Latest / Nonprofit411 Podcast / Navigating the Shifting Fundraising Landscape with Spring Richardson-Perry | Nonprofit411 Podcast

Transcript

Navigating the Shifting Fundraising Landscape with Spring Richardson-Perry | Nonprofit411 Podcast · Nonprofit411 Podcast

Hi friends and welcome to the non profit 411 podcast where we bring together non profit professionals and experts to inspire, educate, and empower you to take your mission to the next level.
I'm Sarah Barton, your fundraising growth partner, and I believe every non profit deserves a clear path to sustainable success.
Together we'll explore the strategies and solutions that work in the real world.
Let's get started.
Hello and welcome to this week's Nonprofit411 podcast.
I'm your host, Sarah Barton, and I am excited to welcome my guest today.
Spring Richardson Perry from time to spring forward.
And she is the president and founder there.
So welcome.
Hey guys.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me, Sarah.
I'm excited to talk with you today.
Yes.
I'm so excited to have you on.
So you have guested for nonprofit for one, one on a grant writing class that we did earlier last year and we were catching up and we thought we'd try to do, you know, a podcast Let everyone else hear some of our catch ups and some of our thoughts on what's happening in the world of fundraising right now.
So I'm so excited that we're going to have this conversation.
Yes, I'm super excited to because the funding landscape has drastically changed in 2025, especially if you're looking at federal grants.
So let's get to it.
And literally, literally overnight, right? There's been a lot of changes literally overnight.
And so, there's a lot for us to be able to share with our nonprofits to help prepare them for that.
But before we get into that, let's start with my favorite question, which is what is your favorite hobby? Oh, great question.
What is my favorite hobby? At the moment right now, my favorite hobby is doing nothing because I never get that opportunity.
I'm always doing something.
It's either with the business, with the kids was doing a lot for my dad recently, who's He was ill and his health is just declining.
And so it's never a dull moment, so doing nothing, but I guess if I have to do something, maybe reading.
Yeah, that sounds good.
That's relaxing.
I'm kind of with you.
Like I don't have a lot of margin time is what I call it, but I have been taking margin time doing exercise and I never would have thought that that would be my, that's currently my favorite hobby.
Cause I don't have time to do the other hobbies.
So I guess it has to be the favorite hobby right now.
That's good.
That needs to become my favorite hobby exercise because I do not make time for that in my day and I really need to.
Yeah.
I've yeah, I've really struggled to make it part of my day, especially since we combined households with my parents.
And so it became even harder for me to make it as part of my day.
So I've been doing it in the dark in the morning while my husband's sleeping in our bedroom.
And then Hi friends and welcome to the non profit 411 podcast where we bring together non profit professionals and experts to inspire, educate, and empower you to take your mission to the next level.
I'm Sarah Barton, your fundraising growth partner, and I believe every non profit deserves a clear path to sustainable success.
Together we'll explore the strategies and solutions that work in the real world.
Let's get started.
in the evening, while my husband and the children are playing video games or watching TV, I'll go into my bedroom and just do some yoga or some aerobic exercise.
So, but it's, it's fun.
So let's get into.
Our topic, which is the current landscape of fundraising.
So we are recording this in January of 2025.
It probably won't go live until March.
So, you know, there'll be a lot more information that rolls out.
But right now we're in the middle of a lot of changes in fundraising.
What are you seeing? So I saw an email this morning about Trump sort of halting all new grant making at least for the next few weeks, I think it was.
So I thought that that was very interesting because I thought budgets were already set and things were already in place.
And so I didn't think that I didn't think that, that they would be able to do that so quickly.
I knew that.
Throughout this year that there would be some changes departments would, would start to have new funding priorities.
But that was rather quick and I just was not expecting that.
Yeah, so, have you experienced something like this in, since you've been working in grant writing? Not not like this.
Like I've experienced the funding priorities shift.
But it typically doesn't take effect until the new fiscal year.
So.
I haven't, this is new, new territory for me, just a abrupt halt to funding besides a government shutdown, right? Yes, I've experienced the government shutdown before.
And I cannot recall what change was taking place but when I wrote my first federal grant.
The Department of Education had had some changes, and so they had shifted their budget.
And it was really interesting because I actually didn't make the cut the first year, and then they funded down on those same recipients the following year, and so I got, I was funded in the following year, but it makes for a lot of education actually if you've never had a federal grant.
And there's a delay in being granted what I learned was that you have to become comfortable with doing budget adjustments and making sure that you're adjusting the needs of the project, you know, because if it's.
If it's six months, nine months, 12 months, since your organization applied for the funding, it can make a huge difference in where your organization is, you know, where they were a year ago and where they are today can be really different.
And so.
You have to be really able to assess that and communicate that well, because you're going to have to communicate that back out to those funding agencies when you do get funded and change, change your project according to your new needs.
That's what I've learned.
Yeah, and that's interesting that you say that because I've had that experience to where something comes out.
And it's a notice of funding opportunity, right? And so you start to prepare yourself for this grant and it's, you know, it comes out and it says, Oh, it's going to open up in two months.
And then that two month mark comes and then it's pushed back to another two months and then another two months.
And the next thing you know, you look up, it's a year later and your, your organization.
Has completely different needs in that moment.
The budget has shifted quite significantly in that moment, especially in this time where we seem to be year over year prices are just ridiculously high.
They just keep going higher and higher and higher.
And so today's price is not necessarily Tomorrow's price next next month's price, not even especially not next year's price.
And so it makes it a little difficult though to continue to fit into those guidelines that they set, because initially, you may, you may see yourself as eligible.
But then when the opportunity actually opens up, you may find yourself in a completely different position and you may say, well, no, I'm kind of like, I don't know that that this is the right thing anymore.
And then it's a little frustrating and a little a little deflating because you've been putting so much into this and been, you know, psyching yourself up about, Oh, when this opens, Oh, when this opens, Oh, when this opens, we have all the things and we'll go for it.
And then when it finally comes time, you're like, Oh, I don't know.
No.
Yes.
Yeah.
And I know having worked with a lot of organizations, I usually, I advise them be really thoughtful.
Make sure that you, the grant is a good fit with you now, you know, right.
Because it's really hard when the organization moves forward on an old project, and the organization is so different now.
Yeah, and it makes the reporting very cumbersome in those situations because, because you've moved in a different direction.
And you're not necessarily doing things in the same way that you were originally.
So the, the original requirements may have been such that it fit perfectly into the way you were measuring things, the outcomes that you guys were, were looking for and what the program was looking for may have aligned perfectly, but you may have already exceeded those goals.
You may have already achieved those outcomes.
And now you're moving on to the next phase of that.
And, and it doesn't necessarily align anymore.
And so that makes the reporting that much more difficult because, because now you have to make it fit.
And, you know, nonprofits are already stretched thin in terms of.
Resources and staffing and stuff like that.
And you don't want to add that additional burden onto someone else's plate.
Yeah.
I really encourage organizations in that situation to communicate really well with the funder because ultimately they do want you to succeed.
And.
They want to show that their investment was a good investment.
So if at all possible work with a funder, I know I've done a lot of HRSA grants.
And I know when you reach out to HRSA and you have some of those struggles, they come back with amazing ideas of other ways that organizations have, you know, helped.
To navigate these difficulties, they have a lot of experience and so don't be afraid of them.
Definitely reach out and try to work with them.
There's such a massive organization and HRSA is in my, in my opinion to me, one of, one of the harder organizations to qualify with.
But once you do qualify you're in like you're in, they offer phenomenal, I, what I love about them is they offer phenomenal support for their donors or for their recipients, not for their donors, but for their recipients.
I think department of ed is very difficult to department of justice.
I like.
Is still a little bit more flexible.
They're very creative.
I love that.
The, the, the DOJ is welcoming to really creative strategies.
I don't know if you've or done any work with them, but they are so creative.
they are.
I, the DOJ to me is the most flexible out of them all.
I was looking at recently a new funding opportunity through the Department of Labor, and they, by far.
For the worst there was no specific contact that you could reach out to.
And then the email was a general email that you had to email.
And then when they responded back, it was a generic Oh, we can't give any information outside of what's in the.
Funding opportunity.
You know, we're different from other organizations because we simply don't have the time or the capacity to answer any questions.
And it was the I don't know if you saw this one, the technical assistance grant with through the Department of Labor.
So it was, it was looking for a collaborative effort amongst nonprofits, but in the sense that.
They would be moving workforce development forward on a national scale.
So they were really looking at that.
We owe a program the opportunity youth.
Those were their main focuses.
But the way that it was together.
So abstract.
And you had to project narrative based off of the abstract proposal that they presented.
So there were some unanswered questions and they just like, oh, we can't answer it.
Put it together to the best of your ability.
It's like, what are you looking for? We'll read the opportunity.
I did about five times and I still am not getting what you're saying.
So.
So that was just really interesting because I've never had that experience before there's always a personal contact information on funding opportunities that you can reach out to someone and you can ask all the questions that you have and they gladly answer your questions for you.
I sometimes I think, hey, you must have been waiting for my call because You're chatting with me like we're old friends.
And so, you know, they don't give out any information that would make you be ahead of the game or anything like that.
It's just clarifying what was written.
So it was just really interesting to me that dynamic with the Department of Labor because I'm like, good luck with this thing because I don't, you know, unless they already have an organization in mind, which that could be the case, which, which it kind of felt like that too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I it's, that's interesting that you say that because that is a way I, you know, that.
A lot of times if they're, if you go under grants.
gov, you can often see how many grants they're giving away.
And sometimes, you know, when they're only giving away one and it's a very complex process, they do kind of have a very limited number of organizations in mind.
So I always encourage people look at how many they're giving away.
That's going to tell you how competitive that is.
Yep.
Yep.
And if you haven't personally been invited by the organization or the department to apply, then it's not very likely that you're going to be considered for this.
If it's already very competitive.
Yeah.
If there's just one or two, I have, I have seen a couple where the, like the organization that I knew of is the one that got, you know, got that single one, but you're like, wow.
But I.
Often have felt like in that situation that the funding organization was as surprised also So, well let's talk about fundraising for a little bit.
So you in your organization tell me a little bit, I don't even think I had you introduce yourself Spring.
I am so sorry.
Okay, so now that we're about 15 minutes into the conversation, let me tell you as who I am, what I do and, and how Sarah and I even met, right? So, I, I also work with nonprofits.
I do basically fractional development work grant writing I do some strategic planning, some compliance work as well as board governance.
So I help with Getting the board on board with moving the organization forward because what I find is that a lot of boards have a misunderstanding of what their role is.
And a lot of boards get really caught up in the daily activities of the organization.
And that's a huge no, no, no, because that's not what they're there for.
So, you know, that's a little bit about what I do.
One of the main things is the, the grant writing and the fund development.
And so, Sarah and I met, where do we meet Sarah? Like, how did we actually meet? I don't remember.
I think on Alignable.
Oh, that's right.
That's right.
It was on Alignable.
And she and I had some synergy there because we were both working with nonprofits and I think at the time she was just kind of stepping out to go on her own.
And she's like, what is all this about? And so, I re like, I'm, I'm remembering this now.
And she did a workshop and so I was a speaker at her workshop that she did.
And it was super, it was very exciting to be able to contribute to that.
And so for us, this history, we've kind of kept in touch and just been keeping up with each other and what kind of industry trends that we're seeing and just how we can support each other.
Yeah.
I'm so glad you got to introduce yourself.
I'm so sorry.
I forgot that at the beginning, we just dove right in because you know, that the grant stuff is so new and fresh and it definitely something that.
We're, you know, it's top of mind, but let's talk about fundraising too, because the landscape for fundraising is shifting and it's going to shift even more, right? Yeah, it is definitely shifting.
One thing that I can say wholeheartedly that is just.
Really starting to not be a thing anymore is auctions, right? People seem to just be over auctions like they want something different.
So there's, there's This activity here where, where I am in Rockport, Texas they do like a purse bingo that does really well.
They have a poker run that they do that also does really, really well.
And so in the, in the fundraising.
realm, like these galas, at least where, where I am are sort of, sort of becoming a thing of the past with the auctions and those sorts of things, the real formal sit downs.
People want fun activities, different activities to go and do.
And that's, that's what I'm finding.
That's what I'm seeing.
Yeah.
I think we've had a couple of shifts over the last Five years, right? So we had COVID and that kind of prevented people from getting together as much for a period of time and nonprofits had to be really creative.
But at that time individuals were also looking to align themselves with opportunities to support their communities and to support, you know, needs that they knew of in their community.
And then as we have come out of COVID, I have seen that.
We are experiencing a new type of community, right? We now have a lot more hybrid community.
We do have a lot of colleagues and interest online as well as in our community.
And I think connecting with your donor is.
It's always been important.
And I think it's important now for organizations to really seek out and understand their very specific donor base because they're very specific donor base is going to have likes and needs and wants that is specific to them, you know, you know.
Yeah, for sure.
And that's, you know, I think, I think maybe during COVID, it was a little lost because connection looked different during that time.
We couldn't really connect in person like talking about it because the world was shut down.
So, you know, everything was, was digital.
It was easy.
It was, oh, this looks great.
They're, you know, they're Really, really on social media, like telling me what's going on, what's happening, this, this, that, and the third, I want to give to them, boom, I'm going to give to them, right? And so that worked well for a while, but we are shifting back into this moment, like you said, of that real connection, that real understanding of I have needs, right? Your organization has needs.
Let's see how this can be a mutually beneficial relationship.
One of the things that, that I am finding a lot more interesting these days and, and really diving into more and more of are the donor advised funds, because Those really came about.
Well, no, I won't say they came about during COVID.
They were already here.
But they got really popular doing COVID because because since we weren't going out spending money anywhere, you know, people had extra money to donate.
So they started to develop donor advised funds.
And, you know, typically the donor advised funds are run by a community foundation, some sort of community organization, and they legally have full control over their grant making process of those accounts.
But typically they still give the people who donate to those funds, they still give them sort of full authority as to who they want to.
Give money to.
And so I have been really looking into this in terms of legacy giving in terms of Establishing relationships with those community foundations who can put put me and my clients in touch with those people who can just write the 10, 000 check right then and there for you, right? You don't have to go through this long, grueling grant making process.
You know, if they say my priorities are youth health and education, if I serve youth.
Boom, that works.
They can write me a check if I'm in the healthcare space, whatever that is, boom, they can write me a check, you know, you don't have to go through this.
three month process at minimum, right? With some of these grants where you submit something today, you know, they'll make a decision by March and then you might get a check by June, right? And so, I find that to be really debilitating to a lot of the organizations that I work with because they are needing funding now.
And the process and in fundraising, right? It goes a lot into setting up these fundraisers.
So we might be today thinking about, hey, let's have this real creative fundraiser, but we may not get it together until June or July.
And then we may not really see the, the, we may not see the proceeds of that until the end of this year, you know, and in the meantime, what are we supposed to do? So, so, yeah, that's, that's just kind of, I don't know.
Kind of where I'm at, what I'm seeing with my clients and how I'm, how I'm sort of navigating just a little differently.
These days.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'll tell you one of the things that I've seen too, is that an organization cannot afford to not have some type of donor platform or CRM platform where they're collecting donor information and, you know, managing that themselves.
I think that's probably one of the number one questions that I ask everyone that I interact with.
For the first time I'm, I usually ask them, how are you collecting your donors information and how are you utilizing it.
And I think that organizations who are more behind on this are going to be experiencing more and more difficulties in communicating and maintaining relationships with their donors because You know, social media is not a platform that provides you back with the information.
You can have a thousand followers on social media and you can't guarantee that you can communicate with those followers because that isn't dictated by the organization or even that affiliation through a social media link, you know? So I, I partner with give butter, you know, but there are a lot of platforms upon Tara and, you know, some of these other ones where they help you develop actual donor databases, because that's, that's an So, yeah, A very important asset at this point for all organizations.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I use GiveButter as well.
I find that one to be the easiest to use to me.
It's the most economical as well.
But it, it does exactly what you need it to do, right? No frills, no fluff.
It just gets straight to the point, right? You can set up A campaign as it's called in there, I believe.
And you can, you can get the button link, put it on your website and it will go straight to the campaign and people can start to donate immediately.
And this is also very good for accounting purposes.
When I start to think about compliance, because you know that these people donated specifically to this campaign, this program, this fund.
And so, you know, okay, I have 50, 000 this year people donated to my advocacy fund.
Right.
And so, so that's a really good way to earmark your money so that you know how much you have for each program.
Yes.
Yeah, I agree.
And I think for transparency sake, what, one of the things that COVID brought to us is that awareness, but it really educated the donor in a lot of ways.
Our donors are very well versed on what can be, what is possible and what can be possible for organizations, you know, in terms of transparency.
And so organizations need to be really thoughtful and proactive.
In creating systems and for accountability, right? Yeah, I think that's probably one of the hardest things that organizations have trouble with in the beginning is having that system of organization of collecting the information and then using it appropriately to keep their donors engaged, because what's the point of having a mailing list if you're not going to engage them? Yeah.
Yeah.
And people get so afraid of engaging their donors, but, you know, it's just like engaging a colleague, tell them all the exciting stories that are happening.
Cause they're happening every day.
Absolutely.
Well, spring, this has been great.
I'm glad that we got you introduced and I'm glad that we had this conversation.
Can you tell our listeners where they can find you? Absolutely.
I am on all the social media platforms.
Although my favorite is linked in, I am spring Richardson Perry on all of them.
Facebook, Instagram, my Instagram handle is at springy springtime.
I am also.
On YouTube.
I have a podcast myself that's on there called the spring forward podcast.
There's a few episodes on there as well that really focused on organizational development.
And so that's another.
And then the other area of, of the nonprofits that I find kind of struggle with too is operating like an actual business.
So, okay, perfect.
And then the final question is always, what is something that you think every nonprofit organization needs to know and needs to be thoughtful about? Here's what I always say.
Just because you're tax exempt does not mean you do not file taxes in so much of my work.
I have worked with organizations that have not filed taxes and five years and you go back and you look in there.
501 C3 status has been revoked.
So you have to work retroactively to file these 990s and do all these things to get them back into compliance.
And it was a nightmare.
It was a fiscal nightmare.
And so, you know, I always say, make sure that you are doing your due diligence.
Again, just because you're a tax exempt does not mean you do not file taxes.
So Perfect.
That's it.
Thank you.
So you broke up at the very end, but I don't think you, I don't think we missed anything.
So I, I love that advice.
Yes.
And I think, you know, when we talk about nonprofits, always being aware that this is just a model of business, right? It's a model of business where we invest back into the organization whenever we do have proceeds that have, have come to us.
Right.
Absolutely.
Yes.
So, well, thank you so much for joining us.
I love all of your handles for social media.
They make me think of Easter.
Oh, good.
I'm glad I love, I love flowers and the fluffy stuff.
Yeah.
So it's perfect.
So when I think of Easter, I think of you and it makes me happy because it'll be sunnier days.
So we're going to sign off here and hopefully wherever you are listening from, you will be having sunny days.
And I look forward to talking to you again next week.
Bye.
Bye guys.
That's a wrap for today's episode of Nonprofit 411.
I hope our discussion with nonprofit professionals and experts gave you actionable ideas to take your fundraising efforts to the next level.
At Nonprofit 411, I partner with leaders like you to develop strategies and guide you through implementation.
Visit nonprofit411.
org to learn more and let's take the first step together.
See you next time.
Bye.