Latest / Nonprofit411 Podcast / Donor Stewardship: Brad Ton on Why a Human Note Beats a Polished One
Transcript
- Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Hello and welcome to the Nonprofit 411 podcast. I'm so excited to be with you. I'm your host, Sarah Barton from Nonprofit 411. And I'm excited to have in the studio today Brad Tun, the senior account executive from Funminer. And we're going to have a great conversation about how your organization shares your impact with your donors. So super excited about today. Welcome, Brad. Brad Ton: Thank you, Sarah. It's a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. I'm I'm pumped to be here. So really appreciate it. Yeah, it's an important topic, so excited to get into it. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah, yeah, I'm so excited this to have you on. I saw you on LinkedIn and I I looked at some of the stuff that you're putting out there and I'm like, yes, organizations really, really need to know this stuff. But before we get started, I love to ask every guest that comes on, what is your favorite hobby? I believe everyone needs one. And so some people don't have one or can't remember theirs yet, or you know, they're still looking, but do you have a favorite hobby? Brad Ton: I do, I do, and it's changed over time. So with with six kids in our that live in our house, the Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Wow. Brad Ton: hobbies change. So when I do, get not not playing around with them or doing things related to them, I love I discovered a couple years ago trail running. So I love hiking, but I also love jogging and running on on trails. That is great for me. and in a previous life I did hip hop music. And that is much more that is not any by any means a a vehicle for income at this point in life. It is more of something I mess around with from time to time. so I enjoy writing music a little bit too. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Well, that's fun. So do you do open mic for your hip hop? Brad Ton: I so I used to, there was a time in my life where I I did it full time. I I toured, I released albums, I did all of that. Now I dabble and I throw rap videos up on LinkedIn. That's how I scratch that itch. So every now and then I I Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: that's so fun. Brad Ton: do that. I do that. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: And I love that you do trail running. So my aunts and uncle are very into trail running. They live in the Pittsburgh area, so it's very mountainous. How is Indiana when it comes to like trail running? Brad Ton: You know, I think a lot of folks that maybe living in more trail centric areas would probably laugh at at my definition of trail running, which is totally understandable. We do have some nice parks around here, some state parks and things that I do go to, but when I travel, I do love to see if I can find some different ones. I just love being in nature. I really do. it's calming and helps me be present. and for me. If I get stuck on a treadmill trying to run, I get bored very quickly. So the stimul the stimulation of being outdoors and in the woods helps me, I think, run a little longer and not feel like I'm I'm ready to give up, you know. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. I do love being outdoors and I just feel like we don't have enough opportunities. So, you know, yay that one of your hobbies gets you outdoors. Brad Ton: True. Yes, yes, yes. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Well, so tell me a little bit about your history. How did you get into, you know, working with fundraising? This is I always say very few people say this is what I wanted to do when I grow up. This is just we just fall into it. Brad Ton: Yeah. my gosh. So I'll give you the Cliff Notes version of kind of my journey, how I f I fell into it as well. I you know, I I went to school, I went to Indiana University because I wanted to do sports marketing and management. You know, I had I had seen the movie Jerry Maguire and I thought, that's what I'm gonna do, you know. and I did. I worked in I worked in sports, doing like season ticket sales and and group ticket sales for I worked for the Chicago Bulls for a little bit. I worked for the Indiana Pacers for a little bit. And it just that it just wasn't for me. It though, you know, the 80-hour work weeks and just the grind of it, it there's a lot that goes into that that is not worth getting into, but it wasn't for me. And you know, I did the hip hop thing for a while there. But when I started having children and realized that the Indiana hip hop money was not gonna raise a family, I thought, okay, what am I gonna do? And my dad's been in tech for a long time. And you know, through networking and just talking to other like-minded people that just love what they do, the Indy Indianapolis and Indiana in general is kind of like a mini Silicon Valley kind of like Salesforce is here, like there's really some really cool tech. So it's really like tech-centric. So I was able to network, and we have a nonprofit here in town called Tech Point. And Tech Point is a nonprofit that helps to fuel the technology ecosystem in Indianapolis and around. And I was looking to get into technology, and one of the things that they offer was this like sales boot camp program where you would do these like quasi little internships at different technology companies around town and just learn and get skills and all of that. And I thought, okay, let me do that. Well, I I applied, I got into that. And then one of the companies that I did these little miniature internships at was a local tech company called OneCause. And OneCause, recently purchased by Bontera, does like auctions, mobile bidding for for galas and golf outings and all that. So that was my first introduction to this world of fundraising. Okay. and I just thought, these are my people. These are my people. We are here for something bigger than me. I'm a very emotional person. I have I have friends that work, you know, and God bless them, they sell like like compliance or tax auditing stuff, you know, and all that. I'm like, Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Ha. Brad Ton: that would be bored to tears. You know, I need passion, I need emotion. And being able to talk to fundraisers and nonprofit leaders every day. I mean, it doesn't get more passionate than that. It's it's awesome. It is awesome. so I just really connected with that. And I I've stayed in the space for the most part over the last 10 years. so that's that's my long-winded answer for how I Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: That's Brad Ton: how I fell into it. And I'm like, wow. I didn't I didn't know up until then, I'll be, I'll be honest, Sarah. Like, I didn't know work, a job could be so fulfilling, so like Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Brad Ton: bring me energy as opposed to something I needed to go do, right? Like you find your passions or your hobby on the side, but you go to work. And and it just completely changed my world for the better. Yeah. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: That's great. Yeah, I think nonprofit, the nonprofit world is so full of passionate people. Like, right, every, every nonprofit is started because somebody was really passionate about making a change. They they saw something. I always say they saw something in the world. They wanted to change that. And man, they went all in on changing it, right? And so it is super exciting. And I love, Brad Ton: Yes, yes. what's what's Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: I yeah, I love your passion. I can feel it. And I'm so glad that. you know, you you ended up in this realm because and I think that I I always say that fundraising is really soul work. Like you are offering the opportunity to become part of something amazing, right? the organizations are offering something amazing. And so a lot of people don't view it that way. They they do just think that they're asking for money. And I'm like, no, this is so much deeper than that, right? Brad Ton: Yes, yes, I will, I will get on the soapbox and you'll probably have to pull me off. But gosh, I can't tell you that mis that misconception that fundraising is is begging for money is just, man, it's just not the case. and and and fundraisers know this for the most part, like like veteran fundraisers, it's it's storytelling, right? It's it's inviting people to give To be a part of your story. People don't like, I don't want to burst any bubbles, but like people don't give to you because they believe in your mission, right? They may think that's why, but like people are giving because they see themselves in the story that you're telling, right? It aligns with them. They want your story to be a part of theirs. And in order to open them up to that, we have to invite them to be a part of our story, right? And I think a lot of like I worked a lot with major gift teams in previous roles and like Real real talented major gift officers know this. It's like the gift is a byproduct of the relationship, the story, the connection, and being genuinely curious about someone, then the gift comes. Right. If we go Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Right. Brad Ton: in with that mindset that we're begging for money, I just you know, it becomes this transactional gross, like, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Ick. I know. I know. Yeah. And it is a skill, but yeah. Well, and so really the reason that I aligned with you is because you like to talk about what happens after the person gives to your organization, right? They've invested in you. And then how do you make sure that they know their investment mattered, right? Brad Ton: Yes. So my journey into nonprofit and and all and fundraising technology. So I was on the fundraising side for eight or nine years, right? Working with development teams and major gift officers and frontline fundraisers on you know more donations, more gifts, more campaigns and all that. Well, I joined Fundminer. towards the beginning of this year, I've been there like six or seven months. Okay. And it's been my introduction really into the donor relation side. Like, what do we do after the gift comes in? What's our processes? And I didn't realize how broken it is. Right. and and being able to keep our promises To our donors by honoring their intent with what their gifts were doing. I mean, the fact of the matter is like four at four out of five donors wanna know what their gift did specifically before they're gonna give again. Right. and it's wild. I talk to or like huge organizations all the time. I work a lot with community foundations and hospital foundations and large, large groups, and you'll have 10. frontline fundraisers for every one donor relations person, right? And it's like, what are we what are we doing? And the turnover of first-time donors giving again is in the toilet. It's in the toilet. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Yeah. Brad Ton: And like, and I'm thinking about that like, you know, I I don't have the stats in front of me, so but I'll I'll paraphrase, right? Like it's it's something in the midst of like 20% of like Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Fifteen to twenty percent, yeah. Brad Ton: I should ask you, right? f it's always going down. Like if when I look like at the the next New Year's stats, it's Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Ha ha. Brad Ton: going down. but imagine if that were like a business, right? And we had eighty percent of our customers churning and not staying, like we'd be out of business in no time. and I Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. And exhausted and the nonprofit sector is exhausted. They are Brad Ton: Exhausted. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: exhausted. Brad Ton: Yeah. yeah. And it it's it's how do we in this world of automation and AI, look, I love AI, I use it every day, but look, AI's gotta be something that we utilize in order to free us up to be more human. Right? Be more human. U and and the biggest part of that is the relationships we build with with donors and what their what their gifts have done. specifically. And I think providing that impact back to them is it's a it's table stakes. We have to be doing it. and some organizations are some a lot of the ones I talk to just it's you know you you talk to them it's a bandwidth concern. You know, we don't have the resources. A lot of times it's siloed systems. Right. I got my donor information on one side. I got a finance system over here. Nothing talks to each other. Like I don't even know where to begin. but it it I'm glad Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: So Brad Ton: that it's a forefront, it's a topic of conversation now, where I don't think three or four years ago it really was. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. So I work a lot with non small rural nonprofits and I I tell them, you know, even if you open a blank email screen and you say, I just want to tell you something that happened. I just saw, you know, Susie come in and she was over the moon because they finished her porch this week. You know, whatever it is, right? I I don't think that nonprofit professionals understand how impactful. those updates are, you know, and I and it doesn't, I think the less fancy it is, the better. I also think that the more frequent, the better. You know? Brad Ton: Yes, yes. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: and so I you know, you kind of alluded to the bandwidth issue, but do you think that people make it way harder than it needs to be? Brad Ton: yes. Great, great case in point. I love your example. That's great. And before we hit record here, you were asking me for my address so you could mail me a handwritten note, right? That's everything. I mean, that's that's everything. here when I hear bandwidth, I get it, right? Like I I get it. It there's only so many hours in the day. And we are held accountable for metrics and numbers we need to hit and and and so many things, right, that are hanging over us that, you know, we may begin to feel like that email message on the porch getting fixed, well, that's not gonna that's not gonna tie me directly to these these numbers I'm being held accountable for, right? So that could be a waste of time, which couldn't be further from the truth. Right. We we have this idea that donor relations is it it's it's it's not revenue generating, right? So don't spend time on that. We need more dollars to come in. Like we have we we have these we have initiatives we need to fund that we you know and we'd rather spend time on revenue generating activity, which which blows my mind. And I love what you said over the simpler, the better, the more messy the better, the more human the better. We just gotta show up. We just Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Brad Ton: have to show up. I don't know what to say. I don't know. Great, awesome. That's great, you know? Like I love the off the cuff Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Yeah, tell Brad Ton: stuff. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. well, and I think that even internally, a lot of times in our organizations, we forget to highlight those things. We we might tell if we have an office mate, we might tell our office mate, but we don't celebrate the little things enough. And those are the things that, you know, make a big impact. The other thing is that I like to tell the organizations I work with is that only one person's ever reading your email. So like And and I think this is maybe a breakdown, and I'd love to have your perspective on it, you know, because I can send that email to literally every person on my email list. I believe. Like, I believe I can send it to everyone. I was thinking because I do think about my the people that support me, and I care about all of them, and I want all of them to know like it matters. Like this matters, right? And so I think one of the breakdowns is that like. If I open it up and say, I was thinking about you and I wanted to tell you about Susie, it feels from my perspective that I'm not building the relationship. But it from the donor's perspective, you are, because you did send it directly to them, even though you've sent it to multiple. So like weigh in on that. You know, how do Brad Ton: Yeah. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: you feel about it? Brad Ton: Yeah, it's a great it's a great question. I think there are different touch points along the way, right? And something the messaging, something like that that is simple and easy and there's n by the way, unless you were not mentioning it, there's no ask in that email, right? Right? Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: No, no, you're just telling them, right? Yeah. Brad Ton: So beautiful. Send that out, right? It's not an Ask, you're not wanting anything from them. You're simply making them aware of something. I love that. And it's simple, right? and along the way, we can make more individualized other touch points. but yeah, I I think things like that are impactful and it's and it's a nice story for them to get behind. One of the things that we try to do at at Funminer is when you talk about you were talking about like trying to keep track of these little like Susie in her porch, right? How do we keep track of those things? So like, and and we want to be able to like have the organization like have a like a bank of those stories, right? That they can that they can lean on and use as necessary. I love the off the cuff. Like you just hear about it and you're like, I was thinking of you. That's awesome. But like if we were gonna, you know, send out you know, impact stuff or even you know, financial end of year stuff. Like we have that story ready to go. We can use it. we don't have to like scramble and and make stuff Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yes. Brad Ton: up on the fly, right? Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Yeah. I I think that's so important too. Like, yeah. And and it's so it you it has to become a habit. you know, one of the things do you work from home a lot? Brad Ton: I do, yeah. As you can yeah, as you can tell. Yeah, I I do. And I'm you know, I'm so grateful that school's back in session. So it's just me and the dog most days now. Thank goodness. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. goodness gracious. Yeah. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Amen. Yeah, especially if you have six kids in the house. That's a lot. Yeah. So yeah, and you know, s for so as a professional, I come into my office and there are things that I just naturally do. You know, it is hard. I worked at an organization where like I traveled all the time and so I was in a different space all the time. I found that that's hard for my brain to remember like, you know, that habit. But again, habits have to like anchor you and so these things can be part of the habit right the the the part of your normal this is what my work is is that I like let people know what we do and how we do it. Brad Ton: I think that's a really, really good, good point you make. I I'm I'm guilty of one of the things I think is has switched for me in this, you know, this this age of everyone's, you know, everyone's got their chat GPT and or their claw, you know, and all that, and they're great tools and all that. But you can I mean you can spot the AI generated messaging a mile away, right? You can spot it. And I think I think those of us are realizing like, look, The bar has never been lower to be to make a human connection. Like, Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Brad Ton: seriously. Like, just just show up, be messy, be real, be genuine, make mistakes. Like the pressure's off. Like, really. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: I love that perspective. Brad Ton: It is. The pressure is off. We just gotta show up. So what do I what do I mean by that? Well, like, less is so much more now. And I used to hate that phrase, but like, if we slow down to speed up. And what's an example? Like what's a tangible example of that? It would be something like, I don't know, 10 handwritten notes to a don to a list of donors in one day that may take me an hour to write, as opposed to, I don't know, 500 newsletter emails or something, right? Like Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Brad Ton: where that feels like, okay, I touched, I made 500 touch points, but like were they meaningful? Did they do anything? and I think we got to cut through that noise. Like I so I'm a salesperson, right? I don't shy away from that. It's my job to make revenue for fund miner, but like I'm cognizant of that, right? And if I'm gonna approach you and ask for your time and talk to you about how important it is to be more human, I better show up human. Right. So, like, Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Brad Ton: I mailed out copies, like 15 copies of there's a great book out there called Unreasonable Hospitality, right? And so Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: yes, I love that book. Yes. Brad Ton: Amazing book. And I think there's so many parallels to fundraising and donor work and donor relations, right? So I just, you know, I have I have my organizations I'd love to have conversations with. And, you know, these folks are getting hit up all the time by AI slop and garbage and all that. I'm okay. What would be thoughtful? So I mailed them a copy of the book with a handwritten note, no asked, just like sent it out, right? and we're opening up and gonna have conversations because I took the time. Now I could have sent out I could have sent out 500 emails to these folks and maybe gotten one reply, but that if that first of all, that that relationship would have started on like what kind of footing, right? Now Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Brad Ton: any of these conversations that start from something that human are gonna be on a much more stable foundation. It's the same thing with donor relations work, right? Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: You're making me feel guilty. I need to do that for my own business though. I and I Brad Ton: Well it Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: do want to, like, right. But here's the thing I thought about the other day, Brad. And I, you know, so often we're like, I don't have time for that. But how many people do I really have entering my database every day? How many new donors do I really have? When you break it down into the numbers, it's it is, I mean, realistically, it's pretty low. Brad Ton: Yeah. Yeah. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: I don't I don't have to like work extremely hard to be super thoughtful towards the new donors because if we look at the whole week, especially for a small nonprofit, what we maybe five, maybe ten. You don't have time in your life to take care of your 10 people that actually did give give you money this week or whatever it is. I think that so many times we make it so much harder in our heads. So So as an actively actively practicing person, how do you feel at the end of doing the thing, you know? Brad Ton: Great point. Like it makes me feel so much better doing doing Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Mm-hmm. Brad Ton: the outreach like that, right? I feel better because I'm there's no corner cutting. It's real, it's genuine. I don't know. You made a point earlier about building habits. And I mean that that's the name of the game, right? Is is just making this part of your daily routine. And I think getting past the mindset that quantity is the way to go. And it's just not. It's it's It's not. I am not so I I sell technology for a living. It's how I it's how I provide for my family. But by no means do I think like technology is like this magical fairy dust we're gonna sprinkle on top of things and make life like donors are gonna flood in, everyone's gonna be happy and like all these things are gonna happen because we have technology. What I will say though is it can be a tool to help us build those habits. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Brad Ton: To keep us organized, right? Because I think a lot of it, you've said it a few times and I love it, right? Like we tend to overcomplicate things. We just need to simplify. It's all up here. I don't know about you, Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Brad Ton: but I'll like, I'm a big list person because otherwise I feel like I have a million things to do, and there's no way I'm gonna get all of it done. But if I just like, okay, let me write them out. And it's like, it's like five, there you go, things. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. My top three. Brad Ton: And it, Not only is it like, okay, I have them. Now I can track them. I love crossing them off. But now it's like, it just feels much more manageable now. It's not floating around up here. I have it down. I'll do them in order of what's most important, right? But I think like organization and clarity on things just opens us up to that's what I mean, I guess, too, about like using AI and technology to free us up to be more human. Like get that crap out of your brain that's like. to the side and organize so that I can go be myself. Right. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's probably why I love podcasting because it allows me to do that without thinking, right? And I I can understand like the tension for nonprofits too, you know, because I have a business and it's just me. And I guess I feel like done is better than perfect, but you're you're inspiring me that human is better than just done, right? Yeah. Brad Ton: Ooh, that's good. But done better than perfect is awesome. Yes. Done better I do the Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Done is yeah. So Brad Ton: I'm sorry. Go ahead, Sarah. Sorry. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: no. So yeah, I have systems to make sure like it happens. So, you know, like let's say LinkedIn, it's not perfect. It just it does feed it consistently and then sometimes I'm able to be the human. you know, or whatever it is, but so done is better than perfect. But I really love this human is better than done. Brad Ton: That is really great. Coin that. Write that down. one of the things I love to do is sending video DMs on LinkedIn. And you know, that's a time consuming thing as well, right? It's kind of like the handwritten note. It's a little quicker than that, but you know, and it it takes research. I you do a few minutes of research on somebody, probably like you're preparing for a a podcast and all that, but I want to touch on something that is important to them. But anyway, I'll I'll go go walk my dog and film them, you know, or something like that. Like I'm outside, I'm walking, and I'm just reaching out, like, hey Sarah, Brad from Funminer. Hey, I saw you guys were were hiring a new donor relations specialist. That's awesome. Growth is such a wonderful thing. Hey, I noticed that last year, you know, just like something like that. Would you ever be like if you're ever open to a conversation, let me know. I'll stutter. My dog will be barking. I had one the other day where I didn't see a tree branch coming and I, you know, like rush. But I send it anyway, you know, and just be human. You know? Just just be human. And and look and it's more fun. Isn't it? Isn't it more Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: you're inspiring me, like you are, because I love being human. Yeah. Brad Ton: fun to know I don't have to be perfect? It's just more fun. It makes life so much Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. It is Brad Ton: better. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: it is and I really feel like I mean since the pandemic, I feel like there's been just so many things grabbing at our humanity, right? That like one we have to relearn kind of how to do relationships because we were separated and and you know I have kids, so like I see I see all these challenges all the time and the the Camaraderie that we experienced has changed because we are virtual instead of in person. And so I just yes, thank you for the inspiration because really truly, this has been so inspiring. And I'm going to have to think about my systems and things that I can do better. Like the DM. A couple you're like an echo. So you're probably the third or fourth echo about the video DMs. And Brad Ton: Yeah. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: I can tell you that the first person who gave me mine was. Brian Ford, he sent me one and I never had one of those and I was like, that is really cool, you know? So so thank you for that. Well, where can people find you and find out more about you? Brad Ton: It's great. Yeah. Of course. Yeah, I'm a I'm a LinkedIn crazy person, I would say. I don't know. My my wife Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Ha Brad Ton: thinks I have an issue, but it's fine. You know, it could be much worse. LinkedIn is where I'm at. So just just find me on there. I'd love to connect. I love chatting with people. I love, you know, virtual connections and especially people in in in our sector and our industry that are doing the work. I love to learn. from those folks and share stories, but LinkedIn is where you can find me. would love to check. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: that's awesome. And then what's the one piece of advice you want to give everyone? What's the one thing you want them to take away? Brad Ton: Yeah, I think for me, a big lesson that I've learned over my lifetime. It it took me, I'm forty-two years old, it probably took me forty years to learn. It's just Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yeah. Brad Ton: just the the the impact you can have by showing up every day, just consistency. Just just showing up every day, regardless of what your energy level is, how you're feeling. don't expect perfection from yourself, but just show up. That is like ninety percent of the battle, and amazing things happen when you start. by I tell my twelve year old son he loves basketball. And I'm like, you just gotta stack. days together. Just stack days. You know? And the result the results are awesome. Yeah. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: Yes, just stack days. Thank you so much for joining, Brad. It has been so Brad Ton: Thank you. Sarah Barton | Nonprofit411: much fun. And to our listeners, I want to thank you for tuning in this week. I look forward to having more conversations and having you return. Subscribe if you can, and I'll see you next week.