700K Growth: When Everyone is a Fundraiser with Tammy Ebuen
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Are you the only one in your nonprofit who understands fundraising? You spend hours crafting proposals, building donor relationships, and strategizing, while your colleagues think it's as simple as posting on Instagram. Well, today's episode is for YOU. We're diving into the power of creating a culture of philanthropy, where everyone in your organization understands and supports sharing your mission, leading to incredible fundraising success.
I'm thrilled to have Tammy Ebuen, a fundraising superstar with over 15 years of experience, join me on the show. As the Senior Director of Development at Visions of Science, she's coming on to chat about what it looks like when everyone understands fundraising. Tammy shares her insights, success stories, and tangible tips on how your nonprofit can cultivate that collective understanding, creating a more sustainable – and enjoyable! – fundraising environment.
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Key Episode Highlights:
Shared Responsibility is Key: A culture of philanthropy means everyone from staff to leadership views fundraising as an integral part of achieving your mission, not just “something the fundraiser does”.
Psychological Safety = Fundraising Innovation: Staff feeling valued and safe to be themselves bring fresh ideas to the table, leading to more engaging and effective fundraising strategies.
Success Stories Fuel Motivation: When everyone celebrates fundraising wins, it creates a positive feedback loop, inspiring the team and attracting further support.
Culture of Philanthropy Means Staff Retention: Fundraisers thrive in environments where they feel connected to the mission and supported by the entire organization.
Don’t forget to become a supporter of our show!
Watch this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/g0SOACjg-lQ
Links and Resources:
Connect with Tammy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tebuen/
Connect with Maria on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mariario/
Fundraising Bingo:https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mariario_bingo-for-fundraisers-the-things-we-hear-activity-7163902317820403712-pVjv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/208666/supporters/new
Transcript:
00:00:00 Tammy: Another barrier to these organizations that don't cultivate that is that you're not seeing the true potential of your team members. And then that translates into you're not seeing the potential of your organization. So if you were to cultivate that, then what could be possible, right? Because if you are truly there for that goal, and you are mission driven, and you want to see that to be a success, then you need to create the environment for that.
00:00:00 Maria: Hi friends, ever wondered how you could turn your big ideas into results? I'm Maria Rio, your go-to guide for helping small nonprofits have real world impacts. Together, let's reimagine a better sector, tackle systemic issues, and yes, raise some serious cash. Welcome back to The Small Nonprofit, the podcast where your passion meets action.
00:00:56 Maria: Hi friends, welcome back to The Small Nonprofit or if it's your first time here, welcome. Come on in, the water's warm. Today I'm really excited to be chatting with someone who I think will bring a lot of interesting perspective to culture and culture philanthropy and what that actually looks like in practice. So I hope you all get a warm virtual welcome to Tammy. Hi, Tammy.
00:01:21 Tammy: Hello, thanks for having me, Maria. Really excited to speak to you and everyone listening today.
00:01:27 Maria: Me too. I'm super excited for you to be here because I just feel like we vibe really well and we're really values aligned. So just sharing that to a broader audience is nice. But if you could just introduce yourself briefly to our audience, who are you? What do you do?
00:01:43 Tammy: Yeah, absolutely. So yes, my name is Tammy. My last name is pronounced Ebuen in case people are looking at my name and don't know how to pronounce it. Pronouns she and her. And I am the senior director of development at Visions of Science, which is an organization based in Toronto, but we have programs all across the GTA. And we support youth in STEM, specifically black and racialized youth and making sure that they have a pathway to STEM careers. But I have been in the sector for my entire career, I would say about 15 years plus and fundraising has just been this current all the way through. But I've been at Visions for the past year and a bit now.
00:02:20 Tammy: And the reason I was gravitated towards them as an organization was because I grew up in one of the neighborhoods that they currently serve. So that's the Jane and Finch neighborhood. And I spent the first 12 years of my life there. So actually that experience has shaped the different places that I've landed over the years. But really excited to be here and to share a bit more about my experiences.
00:02:38 Maria: I always find that so powerful coming back to a neighborhood where you grew up to. You just bump into people that you grew up with or their relatives and it's like, oh, you're accessing the service. Cool, I'm fundraising for them.
00:02:50 Tammy: They're really cool. I think I believe in, like full circle moments. Anybody who knows me knows I'm a stickler for stuff like that. So whenever it happened, this just feels so much more beautiful and meaningful and I'm always searching for those. So definitely this was a moment like that.
00:03:03 Maria; Yeah, it feels so connected to the work when it's like in your own neighborhood.
00:03:08 Tammy: Yes, absolutely. One of the things that's hard about it is like to know that the same issues that I saw growing up are still persisting today. And that's the part that obviously sucks about it all. I think on the flip side of that, it's very empowering to have organizations that are really diving deep into where the needs are. And I think they've become a little more sophisticated and robust over the years, too. So what I saw as a kid growing up in the neighborhood now versus the supports that are out there for folks, I think it's really wonderful to know that those exist and that support is out there.
00:03:37 Maria: Absolutely. How did you get into fundraising? Was it on purpose? Was it by accident? And if you could just walk us through what you spent those 15 years doing.
00:03:46 Tammy: Oh my gosh, okay. So I actually had a call with someone recently who was just wrapping up her mat leave and was asking me, how did you get there? And I was like, it's a little bit of a meandering journey as it is for all of us. They think we talk about fundraising and what our journey has been like, but I landed a temp job at a health center and it was doing admin and then that evolved into me doing, full-time HR role. And so they were like, well, you seem to be good with people at the front desk. So would you be interested in doing like admin essentially for HR? And I was like, okay.
00:04:18 Maria: Non-profit move.
00:04:20 Tammy: Right. Exactly. And then while I was doing that, the sole fundraiser for this health center came up to me one day and was like, do you want to just support me with the database? And would you be able to call some donors when their credit cards expire? And so I'd make these phone calls and then actually get chatting with folks about their donation. And I remember feeling weird about fundraising because I hadn't done it really, or I hadn't really had any mentors in my life around it. And Denny Young is his name. He was the fundraiser at the time. And he'd just share with me some things about it. And I was like, it's kind of interesting.
00:04:50 Tammy: So when I left Sherbourne, I went into another role at the Stephen Lewis Foundation that was third party fundraising, which is me supporting all these volunteers. And so they were doing massive fundraising, like raising millions of dollars and I was just supporting them to do that. But it gave me another perspective on what fundraising could be. And so all of that evolved into me then doing a different role where I was doing both fundraising and program management for an international development organization. And I was on a team of three people or four, maybe three and a half at times. So I literally was seeing the money coming in and then I was bringing the money in and then pushing the money out.
00:05:27 Tammy: That's not a very sustainable model. I do not recommend it to anybody, but it really allowed me to get that full scope of how all of that was connected. ‘Cause oftentimes when you're fundraising, you're not really on the frontline seeing how that money's spent. So all of those experiences led me then to work with Rakesh Lakhani. I know he's a mutual friend of ours and a friend of many people in the sector. It's another organization. And that was the first time I had a fundraising/comms role. And so got to work directly with an actual fundraiser. Rakesh is a brilliant fundraiser and a mentor. So it was one of those times where I got to own in on my fundraising skills and really call myself a fundraiser, if you will.
00:06:04 Tammy: And so that then evolved into this role, which is now solely fundraising. And so it is this thread that's weaved its way through whether I wanted it to or not, and I developed this identity of becoming a fundraiser over time and then started to actually see this like a viable, legitimate choice for me to pursue as a career and to help people move past the ickiness that can often surround fundraising and to look at it as like a vehicle for really connecting people to this work that needs to be done and the work that is being done.
00:06:37 Tammy: So when I saw myself as that conduit, if you will, that's when I was like, okay, I'm going to own this and really fully step into it and form my career around my love of just relationship building and connecting because really that's what it is. That's what gets me going. It's not necessarily like landing the biggest gift or whatever it is, it's always been around making these connections and having powerful conversations with folks. And that's what's really been driving the work all throughout my career.
00:07:02 Maria: Wow, that's such a wild journey.
00:07:05 Tammy: Yes.
00:07:07 Maria: HR/admin, I'm like, what is going on there?
00:07:12 Tammy: The HR experience is wild because we started out with 25 people when I started working there. And by the time I left, we had reached like 150 people. And I was part of the recruiting team myself and just one other person to scale that. So I think it's made me a better generalist, if you will. I think that that lended to me being able to just apply different skills as a fundraiser. And so I feel like I'm more nimble because of it, because I was able to dabble into program management and dabble into even program development and HR and so, and comms. And so having those experiences has definitely made me, I think, more well rounded as a fundraiser for sure.
00:07:46 Maria: Oh, I bet. And I'm sure that you bring such a unique lens to the director of development role because you understand so many of the challenges and nuances that maybe some fundraisers don't or some program staff don't or HR doesn't, right? That's, really interesting combinations of skill and experience. So that's really awesome.
00:08:07 Tammy: Thank you. Yeah.
00:08:08 Maria: So I wanted to chat about something that, when we connected on this topic, I felt really happy for you because you were saying Visions of Science has this incredible culture. They have been working to really center community and empower their staff and make sure that people are treated well, which is so common in our sector. But I felt really happy for you for landing that role. And I just want to talk about some of the experiences in the past that maybe were not as inclusive or didn't bring you as much joy. And then maybe we can compare, as to what makes a really good culture. And especially as an organization, what does a cultural philanthropy even mean?
00:08:53 Tammy: Yeah, I mean, without going into, like specifics, I think we've all encountered in our careers where we end up in these workplaces that have levels of toxicity or I think you had the bingo card recently actually, and I was like, bingo. It was just like immediate, righteous. You pick up on all the things that happen in these organizations. But yeah, I didn't know. I think that being in those situations, I didn't really know how to navigate it at the time and really step into my own voice or my power and things that I've really had to actually reflect on, right? Like post being in those experiences now that I'm removed from it and not removed, I should say distance when moved on to other places.
00:09:26 Tammy: But I think what's really been challenging in the past is that sense of emotional or cultural or psychological safety that comes with having actual inclusivity and not feeling like if I speak out, am I going to lose my job? If I speak out, am I going to be reprimanded in some way or sidelined or excluded? And that has happened because, that… but the examples of which we saw, like in some workplaces, if someone spoke out, they could be laid off three months from then. And so that really puts, the fear. And then you end up worrying about that instead of doing the work. And that was where I found that it was not productive. You're spending all this energy into, like, creating this environment that actually isn't, not only is it inclusive, it's toxic and it's harmful and it's detracting from doing the good work that needs to be done.
00:10:08 Tammy: And so that carried with me for a little bit and I had some pretty significant experiences there. And then I think with the smaller organizations, like really small, and I'm talking about those teams that I was almost three people, four people, even moving on to like an eight person team where you're just busy hustling the whole time that you don't even have time to think about how to address something when it happens, how to like pour into creating an environment, especially during the pandemic. It took everything to just survive every day.
00:10:34 Tammy: And so I think in those environments, we've tried our best and people do try their best, but it takes time and it takes concerted effort to actually create those types of spaces. And shout out to my colleagues when I was working with Rakesh and the team at FBK, it was the future possibilities for kids. That was during the pandemic and it was a very tough environment to cultivate that sense of belonging and inclusivity, pivoting to working remotely, pivoting everything in fact. And so that was a challenging environment and they still managed to try to support stuff as much as possible.
00:11:03 Tammy: But then shifting to this organization, that's like a whole other thing, right? So I'll step into that in a second. But really those experiences, I didn't see or notice the effects of it until I had been removed from it. And I'm now in a space where I actually feel when you actually cut the noise, how much can be done. So that's something to consider as we build these inclusive environments.
00:11:22 Maria: Oh, hearing you talk like everything is like flashing before my eyes. This time where my executive director was like, what's BIPOC, stop using acronyms. This other time where this program director yelled at an intern who had no power in the situation, it was on a foreign workers visa, like all this stuff. And then the president of the foundation did nothing to stop the yelling. Like the way that staff are treated here is shocking. It's so, so, so, so sad.
00:11:50 Maria: So when you add that additional layer of neurodiversity or gender or race, it just becomes so much harder to navigate and I really, really connect with what you were saying about speaking out. Because not only have you seen, like I've seen people get fired for speaking out about anti-racism, anti-oppression practices, but I felt it too, where it's like, we should do this. This is the ethical thing to do in this situation. And then you get so much pushback and then if you don't obey, then it's your problem.
00:12:26 Maria: For all the people who try to improve the culture, who try to move things forward in a way that would be better for the organization, those are usually the people who end up having to leave to maintain their own mental health, sanity, and any sort of peace in their professional career. So when you take all of that out, you must go pretty far.
00:12:46 Tammy: Yeah, absolutely. I've been hearing the examples that you're throwing out. Like oftentimes those exact workplaces will be like, but we're a family. I'm not looking for a family. I am looking for community though. I am looking for people who have your back. People are going to let you show up authentically as you are. People are going to meet you where you're at. That's what I'm looking for, right? Is a supportive space and that's more of a community. I'm not looking for a family. I have a family and it comes with its own things, but I'm looking for a community.
00:13:12 Tammy: And so I think as workplaces try to make it feel like, yeah, we're trying to build a culture here or whatever it is, just like try to build community and actually mean that right. And I think that that's way more powerful than if you can actually do it than saying we're a family because that's a red flag for me. I think that might have been on your bingo card. I'm not sure.
00:13:31 Maria: Red flag. Oh.
00:13:32 Tammy: Yeah.
00:13:33 Maria: What's a bingo card? I'll actually list that in the show notes as well. It's just like what dumb things fundraisers they're hearing all the time like, oh, we didn't track those grant deliverables. Kill me. What are you saying? Yeah, jumping back to what you were saying about showing up authentically, I think that that's something that is so hard to do in so many environments. And what are the environments, what do those environments feel like? Where people are actually open to showing up as authentically as possible and being loud, whether that's laughing or saying, hey, that's not ethical. What did those environments actually feel like in practice?
00:14:15 Tammy: So I think that when I started at Visions, it was the first team that I had ever been on that served black and racialized people, and then I had a team that reflected that. So that was the first time in my career that I'd ever had that. I had worked with Black and racialized folk before, but not like in its entirety, and certainly not reflected in the leadership. So it was a very new thing for me, and that stood out to me. It was something that I really wanted to be a part of when I saw that about the organization.
00:14:44 Tammy: Oftentimes authentic representation, people will say that, but then there's not really that reflection actually when it comes to who you hire, who's on your board, etc. So I feel like that's an area that Visions really has done well and really has made it a core value as an organization. And so I remember when I started, the first time we all had a social, it was like we were all in the room. It was like before the holidays. And I'm looking around this room and there's like 35 to 40 people and I'm going like, what is this?
00:15:11 Tammy: And also, I work with a team for which Visions is like their first job or they were a youth in the program and now they're working in the program and they're working as part of the program. And so they've never known anything different. So I'm looking to my colleague who's also hired at the same time and we're both going, they don't even know that this is not normal. Like looking around and seeing the people you grew up with, looking around and seeing people that look like you, looking around and the food, even just the food, the food was warm. It was like samosas and I don't remember what we had, but it was delicious. And it was just a variety of that. And it was so beautiful, really.
00:15:46 Tammy: And so I remember thinking how my shoulders dropped a little bit and how I hadn't realized the physical things that happen. And not to say that that happens every time I'm in a space with people who are not Black or racialized, but being in a space that is actually welcoming of you as a person and what you bring and your culture and everything, that is very important. So I started to pay attention to that and I realized that that must be one of the reasons that this organization is so successful in what it does is because you don't have to have all those thoughts or the things that happen when you're masking, when you are code-switching.
00:16:23 Tammy: That takes effort and mental space to do that when you're watching what you have to say. If I tell people that I love Soka, can I tell people about like, well, they know what doubles is? I don't know. It's just very different to be able to be in a space and like they know all that, right? And then you move differently. I don't know how to describe it. Like you move differently. You think differently. And it just cuts out a lot of that like extra work that I didn't realize I was doing.
00:16:49 Maria: Oh, I hate when we're saying like, that's not normal. Because that's what it should be. There should be so much psychological safety and good feelings when you're coming to work, no matter what sector or anything like that, who your boss is, anything. It should be. We're spending time here for a common goal. That's it. Why are we being toxic? Why are we being racist, sexist, whatever it is that's going on? But just like that feeling of relief that you're describing is something that I felt really deeply and I realized that I felt it at the Accelerate Conference in Toronto last year, where they actively chose a lot of topics.
00:17:28 Maria: One of the panels that I talked on was about bringing equitable fundraising practices to your organization. And just a lot of the topics were so centered around racialized people and racialized experiences that that's the people who were showing up to the conference, right? Like this is for us and it's obvious that it's for us. And even the sessions that were kind of less structured were so about, let's talk about the issues that you're facing as a racialized person in nonprofits.
00:17:59 Maria: So that was just very healing and it felt so different than going into AFP and seeing how women treat each other there and how egos play such a big part in that kind of culture and how you have to even move differently when you're saying that. It's like I'm straining out my body while I'm talking, thinking about AFP like, oh, I am a person and you should take me seriously and I know what I'm doing. Right? Move yourself to the same extent with other people who have the same lived experience because they also know that they don't have to prove themselves to you. You know you're both competent, capable people. That's never under question.
00:18:41 Tammy: Absolutely. I was thinking about this because I also don't want to paint a picture that this is only possible in a place for people. That's not what this is. What this is, is that sense of safety and that sense like what is actual safety? What is actual belonging? And how can you cultivate that? No matter what your skin color is, how can you create that environment for folks to feel no matter how you show up and who you are, that you feel safe, that you belong. Because if you're not creating that from the get-go, then you're not going to have them showing up as their full selves and they're not going to be able to do their jobs fully, right? Like to lean into the skills that really help them shine, to help them grow and develop.
00:19:19 Tammy: Because I saw that was another barrier to these organizations that don't cultivate that is that you're not seeing the true potential of your team members. And then that translates into not seeing the potential of your organization. So if you were to cultivate that, then what could be possible, right? Because if you are truly there for that goal and you are mission driven and you wanna see that to be a success, then you need to create the environment for that and the conferences.
00:19:46 Tammy: Like you spoke to that and I am seeing more definitely in the past, let's say two to three years where we're seeing a lot more spaces where different voices can be heard because oftentimes, too, we're hearing the same folks coming up at conferences and they have a lot of expertise to offer. I respect that. But also, I want to hear from different people. I actually want to hear from people that may not have all the expertise but have a lot of experience, right? And that's important, too.
00:20:10 Maria: Oh, that's the other thing with conferences. You end up hearing from a lot of consultants because I'm a consultant now.
00:20:17 Tammy: Right. Yes, which is so great.
00:20:19 Maria: Yeah. And I'm very happy to be a consultant. It keeps me safe from all the nonsense that can happen internally. And I need that personally, I need it. But then who can afford to be speaking at conferences? Who can afford to be speaking and buying those $2,000 tickets for you?
00:20:37 Tammy: I cannot.
00:20:37 Maria: $2,000 USP.
00:20:39 Tammy: I don't even think I can go, straight up.
00:20:41 Maria: Who can go?
00:20:42 Tammy: Because we're thinking about all the other conferences that we wanna go to. If I put all of the money into one bucket, I can't meet there. I think the restriction was that you couldn't have been a previous fellow. So I think that was the only opportunity to have a scholarship. So I can't apply because I was a previous fellow for another, for AFP icon when it was in New Orleans. So I don't know how to get there, but I want to be there, but I don't know how to get there. So definitely there's a lot of things that AFP itself needs to work through.
00:21:10 Tammy: But again, when it comes to safety, belonging, inclusivity, that should be part and parcel of creating an anti-racist, anti-oppressive environment. And I think they're working on that. And certainly the shift with AFP Toronto is working towards that, but definitely you can see it still runs all the way through.
00:21:27 Maria: Oh yeah, for sure. Just jumping back to something that we were talking about earlier, like how organizations treat their staff and build that psychological safety opportunity for people to collaborate in how they view them and how staff then in turn show up. I wonder what you think about that kind of environment and its impact on service users as well. Service users can also tend to come from different not represented groups and leadership or even some staff members. So I wonder what your thoughts on that.
00:22:27 Tammy: Yeah. So if you ever do get the chance to speak to our CEO, Dr. Eugenia addy, I would ask her this question too, because she's had a lot more experience with that. But I would say what I've observed and what we know to be true when it comes to youth in our programs, because we actually have programming from youth from grades three all the way up to age 25. And that's on purpose because we know that if you're going to go at the stage of post-secondary school or career, and you're like, well, where are all the Black and racialized people applying for jobs? They're not here. It's because they didn't get there because the barrier started when they were in elementary school.
00:22:36 Tammy: So that's the part where when you're speaking to like, how does authentic representation show up there? It's like when youth see people who look like them, like at the programmatic level, engaging with STEM, like being hands-on with STEM, leading in STEM discussions, showing up at conferences about STEM, encouraging them. And that's another thing that we really choose, like developing that STEM identity is like a really core tenet of our programming, is like cultivating that throughout our STEM Pathways programming. That's how it makes a difference for youth.
00:23:09 Tammy: And that's how come I think we see youth staying with us for years within the programs because they build those relationships with people. Even if the person leaves or they move on or whatever, they feel that relationship with the organization and they feel like we're there for them in a really comprehensive way and one in which they resonate with and we can see the power of that even when it comes to how their parents engage or their friends and neighbors. It's all encompassing because we are community based and it matters.
00:23:36 Tammy: I don't know how else to describe it. When you have authentic representation and the people who work at your organization, look like the people that you're servicing, it just makes a difference in terms of that relationship building, that continuity. And that's what's needed when it comes to our specific work. It's needed for youth to then decide that STEM could be a viable future for them. That STEM is a place that they can find themselves and thrive and belong and develop a career out of because that's the ultimate goal.
00:24:01 Maria: I think that's so helpful, honestly, to have that kind of representation in person because where else are you gonna get it? It's not on TV, your teachers don't look like you, the job market doesn't look like you. So just making a part of your programming from the get can have such a huge impact. And I'm sure that can be applied to a lot of different aspects of nonprofit work. So if your HR rep is neurodivergent or has different physical abilities, I'm sure that they approach the whole organizational policies in such a different way with so much in there.
00:24:41 Tammy: Yep. And thoughtfulness. And also they can see the gap because I think the gaps are less evident for people when you're not living that reality. So if they can see the gaps and they can see how to meet those gaps. And if you're creating an environment that wants to hear those voices and those opinions and those change that they're proposing, then what does that mean for the growth of your organization? It's huge. It's powerful. So creating that opportunity for folks, but then also creating the space to let them thrive and show up fully, it's just going to be huge.
00:25:11 Maria: So how does this translate into fundraising? So you have a good culture, people are not masking, they don't feel like they have to not be themselves, they feel psychologically safe. What does that mean?
00:25:24 Tammy: Yeah, so I would say I'm the sole official fundraiser at our organization. But before I came on, this organization was very successfully fundraising all on their own. And they have also built in this culture of fundraising. There are people on my team that have nothing to do with the work that I do on a daily basis, but know the donor cycle. They know what stewardship means. They know what cultivation means. They know what a prospect means. They know all the different and how you move them through. And they know all of that because another key piece of the culture at Visions of Science is like actually sharing that information with folks.
00:25:57 Tammy: So in virtual sharing, you're actually building the culture. And so when you don't assume that people are not interested, like when you don't assume that they're not going to want to engage with that, then of course they're not going to, but when you actually open up and show that opportunity to engage, then it's like you're actually building the culture of fundraising across the organization. So before I came on, they already had different people doing reporting, someone else was doing grant writing, different folks from programs were showing up for donor meetings. And so we've been continuing to build on that since I've come on board now. And how that's shown up is like continued success in fundraising year over year.
00:26:29 Tammy: So they've continued to expand and grow. They've even showing up last year. I remember I was hired in November and by the end of Q1, we'd already fundraised, I think, our entire operating budget because they had secured multi-year funding from previous years and because they knew that that was important. They knew that unrestricted multi-year funding was important before I even came on board. And they had been working to do that way before I even came on. So it was like all this pre-work that had been done then resulted in a really successful Q1 which meant that we could then start to use the remainder of the year to not only strategize, but start securing other multi-year gifts for then future years so that we're not chasing all the time to try to meet our goals.
00:27:10 Tammy: And so the Q1 front loading is how I refer to it. It's just so much better because then this pressure is lifted from having everything be landing on Q4. We're always like that. The year-end fundraising is like the big push and Giving Tuesday and all these things. And the amount of stress and pressure that comes from that for on the individual giving side could just be if it would just spread out throughout the year and if you were to engage other team members so that it wasn't all on your shoulders. And I'm speaking specifically to people who are in small and mid-sized shops who don't have a team for grant.
00:27:41 Tammy: You're just you and another person or you and two other people or you by yourself. Building this out is actually going to save your mental sanity and it's going to make you more successful as an organization in terms of your fundraising. So I do believe it's also because there's a lot of gatekeeping with fundraising sometimes, right? And also with senior leadership talks, even when talking about the operating budget. Often you're in an organization, it's behind closed doors, you only hear about it after the fact, and then you're not clear on the process because maybe you've never partaked in it before, right? You've never been part of those conversations.
00:28:15 Tammy: And what I've seen is that there's professional development going on all the time because we have these opportunities for our team members to participate in the operational planning, to be part of those discussions. And I realize and have said this to our director team is like, this is professional development because wherever they go, they will know that planning out quarterly is critical to achieving your goals. You can't just have goals and then not backtrack those into like a quarterly play. All these different things that come out of that planning process is so empowering for folks.
00:28:46 Tammy: And then you're more invested because you understand the mechanics behind it, how the plan came to be because you were a part of it. So the fundraising culture, yes, is huge. Making sure that everybody can be a part of that and know how to do it and know what fundraising is and why it's important. And then also how to engage with it. But also this other piece of it, which is knowing that these conversations are not backdoor conversations. This is actually a conversation for all of us to participate in because we are all a part of this organization and we all want to succeed. So therefore we all have to know the information. So elements like that is what's been honestly made this organization successful and it's fundraising for sure.
00:29:25 Maria: I've always found it really interesting how most fundraisers do not want to have these conversations with program staff like, oh, we're having a deficit or there's this much in reserve or like this year we absolutely cannot do raises without cutting a whole program. Right? There's a lot of fear like, oh, then they'll run away. And that's fair, but it's not your decision to control their life.
00:29:50 Tammy: That's right.
00:29:53 Maria: Information where if they had it, they would not consent to this choice to be here. The other would be the actual hunger that program staff do have for this information. Like they know and they would make much better decisions if they understood this is how governance works. This is how budgeting works. This is how the board relates to fundraising or these who our donors are, they're not just monopoly men out there with their top hats. Like real people who care about this just as much as you do.
00:30:27 Tammy: Absolutely. And I think that insight is so critical to, yeah, like you're saying, their understanding of the work. And also, they can see the opportunities that we can't necessarily see, because they are then seeing the gaps in the program. I have this idea of how we should expand this or whatever it is. And if I don't know that information, I can't convey that to people who want to invest in this work. So having that relationship is so critical, but not just being like, if you see this gap or whatever, just let me know, it's more encompassing than that, right?
00:30:53 Tammy: It's like you're understanding how the fundraising relates to your work, and you're also understanding how that's reciprocal. Like if we know about each other's work, then we can support each other to do better in our jobs and ultimately support the youth. So it's one of those things where we don't really think about that because we kind of think too, it's like, is it too much to overload people with information? Are we going to be opening ourselves up for questions? But as you're saying, even with the contingency planning, and when it comes to that, that is important, like important information to be able to know also, do you have a plan in place? Is there a plan? Because I want to know that you have a plan because that's also key.
00:31:28 Tammy: In my day to day, I want to know that if for some reason we didn't raise a dollar more, what would happen? And that's important information to have. Again, to how you move, to how you work, to how you walk, it makes a difference. So information can be power.
00:31:44 Maria: Maybe that's why it's kept from people. Right? Because then you don't have power over them leaving or panicking or whatever you think is going to happen, whatever you fear is going to happen, but have no proof that will actually come to be.
00:31:57 Tammy: So true. Oof.
00:32:00 Maria: And even thinking about like, oh, if I tell them what the contingency plan is, they'll be worried. But we do fire drills all the time. We know what happens if there's an emergency and we're ready for it. So why don't we kind of bravado when it comes to like, there is a governance emergency or there is a financial emergency or an HR crisis, comms crisis. Like those things are usually kept much more under wraps and not transparent.
00:32:30 Tammy: Yeah, absolutely. Transparency is so key. It's not to say that how you convey that information shouldn't be thought like it should always be thoughtful. Of course. And you're not just like this open book and you're not not managing, but like figuring out what is the best way to convey this information. Of course, be thoughtful, make a plan and how that's conveyed in stages, let's say, because maybe they don't have the full picture and you've had the full picture all along, whatever it is. But still, transparency is so key.
00:32:55 Tammy: For a second, I was going to say transparency is so cute. That's been funny, but no, transparency is so key. And it does make people feel like, isn't there like an element of like, you actually care about me as an employee too, when there's transparency, right? That's what I get out of it, right? I was like, you actually care about me because you're telling me you're bringing me into the fold or including me as part of the broader conversation. And I feel like you value me as an employee. And you want to inform me. And like that, again, powerful.
00:33:28 Maria: Yeah. There's a lot of ways to actually, if you're saying like, we're like a family, blah, blah, blah, there's ways to show that you care about people and play their interests over your own.
00:33:35 Tammy: Very true.
00:33:37 Maria: Like someone leaving for a better job opportunity isn't a detriment to you.
00:33:41 Tammy: No.
00:33:40 Maria: It's just a business.
00:33:43 Tammy: That's exactly right. Yeah. Even how we talk about that, right? Or how we talk about salaries. That's a whole other podcast probably, but like the whole salary.
00:33:51 Maria: Oh, like just salaries.
00:33:55 Tammy: But even that alone, right? Like to be at an organization where that's very clearly laid out, like you know where you are and you know where you're going. Like it's powerful and it takes the time and mental energy that we take into thinking about those things, right? And how much more of an efficient team member fundraiser, whatever role you hold is going to be because you don't have to worry about all of that and you can plan your life and you know, I don't know. Like it's, yes, so many things, but salary is a huge one, but definitely seeing a lot of strides made in that for our sector and really happy about those. So hopefully we'll continue to see more improvement there for sure.
00:34:28 Maria: Tammy, I have loved this conversation, like always. I always love chatting with you. And I think we could definitely go on forever. I would love to chat a bit more with you actually at some other points. But where can people find you if they wanna continue the conversation or learn more about you?
00:34:46 Tammy: Absolutely. Yeah, please find me on LinkedIn. You know, my first name, last name. Come and connect with me. I love conversations. Anybody who knows me knows that I randomly reach out to people on LinkedIn sometimes just to be like, Hey, can we chat? That's just who I am. So if you're ever wanting that, just know that that is an open book for me. Please reach out, connect with me. I'd love to chat.
00:35:06 Maria: Well, thank you again for being on the podcast today. We'll have all of your information linked in the show notes below. And thank you everyone for tuning to today's episode of The Small Nonprofit. As always, if you want to see our lovely faces, I will have our YouTube stream of this podcast recording as well. And until next time, bye for now.
00:35:33 Maria: Thank you for listening to another episode of The Small Nonprofit. If you want to continue the conversation, feel free to connect with our guests directly or find me on LinkedIn. Let's keep moving money to mission and prioritizing our well-being. Bye for now.
