Episode 134 | How Founder, April Jurgensen, Raised $200,000 in 7 Months

11/17/19 • 42 min

Fundraising Freedom Podcast with Mary Valloni

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Episode 133 | How Gratitude Changes Everything

These last few weeks have been quite the whirlwind for me. I went out of town for 10 days that kicked off with a workshop I did with my friend Joel for nonprofit executives, then to the Igniting Souls author conference, and concluded with taking on a brand new client.

What is gratitude? It’s a feeling of appreciation and showing an appreciation of kindness and being thankful. Being grateful is being thankful – thankful to others for what they’ve done for us, volunteers willing to spend their time with us, gratitude for people who give generously. Gratitude is contagious. Gratitude creates positive thinking. Our brains cannot think positively and negatively at the same time. This means we can’t have the glass half full and half empty at the same time. As someone who works with fundraisers, it’s my job as the encourager to get you thinking about who you can call on and what opportunities you can take to help you achieve your goals. When you have peace about what you’re doing, you have less fear.

Gratitude creates resilience. Resilience to life’s challenges. When you are able to bounce back quicker from what life throws at you, you are able to raise more funds and create greater impact. We have all been through traumatic experiences; how often do we find ourselves in a position where someone gave to our organization and then all of a sudden, they’re gone? If you wallow in the sadness of them leaving, you can easily create a downward spiral of negative thinking. We have to be able to be resilient and understand that not every donor is going to come back, we should never have an expectation that donors are going to give every year.

Gratitude creates joy. Practicing gratitude everyday brings joy in your life. I have mentioned this before, but in the back of my journal, I have a joy list. It’s a bulleted list of all the things that bring me joy. I try and spend most of my time doing the things on my list that bring me joy because I have a choice every single day to do things I enjoy. One of the things on my list is deep conversations so I work really hard to incorporate these types of conversations into my daily life and into the work I do.

Gratitude can change everything including our mental state and can help us turn things around. My challenge to you today is to create your own joy list. As we gear up for this holiday season and the season of giving, think through those little things that bring you joy and how just by changing your thought process can change how people feel about your cause. People give to people; they don’t give to causes. People are giving to you and the life change you are making through your organization. It’s way easier to give to someone who is positive and shows gratitude toward your generosity. If you’re feeling really stressed right now, I need you to push that to the side and be thinking positive thoughts because those negative thoughts are not doing you any favors, they aren’t helping your fundraising, and your desperation is repelling people away from you and your cause.

Last week we talked about podcasting and I wanted to let you all know that I am launching a new podcast with my friend Joel Kessel called the Nonprofit Executive Podcast. The first three episodes are dropping later this week. This is THE podcast for nonprofit executives who are working through strategic plans, board development, administrative support and all of those different roles that come with an executive title. Joel and I will specifically talk about strategic planning and fundraising. Visit http://nonprofitexecutivepodcast.com/

Interested in joining the Nonprofit Executive Club? Check out nonprofitexecutiveclub.com

For more information about Mary Valloni, visit maryvalloni.com and to download our free Fundraising Freedom Roadmap, go to maryvalloni.com/roadmap.

Interested in joining the Nonprofit Executive Club? Check out nonprofitexecutiveclub.com

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Episode 134 | How Founder, April Jurgensen, Raised $200,000 New Money) in 7 Months

My guest today is April Jurgensen, who is the co-founder of The Boaz Project and one of my Fundraising Freedom Academy students. April just recently won an author academy award for her book, The Orphan’s Abba. April and her husband inspire and equip leaders around the world to care for orphans in their own communities.

Tell us about the fundraising project you’ve been working on this last year.

We have called it homes for orphans but it’s basically providing housing solutions for specific children’s homes in Russia, India, and Kenya. The largest portion is in Kenya where we plan to build a three-story apartment building that will have individual units for house parents and the orphans they’re raising. Because land is so expensive in our part of Kenya, it makes more sense to build up rather than build several tiny homes.

When The Boaz Project started, we were coming from another mission organization. In our minds, the way you raised funds was through a letter because this is what most missionaries are trained to do. My degree is in writing, so writing is familiar and comfortable and so that’s what we did; we sent a lot of direct mail. I’m still a believer in direct mail, but one of the key takeaways I got early on from the Academy was there’s a whole world of fundraising beyond that, especially if you’re looking for a large gift. No one just opens their mail and sends you a check for $20,000.

Many people we’ve talked to ask us if we’ve run a feasibility study and look at us like we’re crazy for trying to raise this kind of money. The real shift for me came from changing my mindset around fundraising. I had all of these supporters who I simply never asked if they would be willing to give larger gifts. Now, after 7 months of working the program, we are 40% of the way to our goal. We are entering the season where most of the giving comes into a nonprofit. But I also look at it like if we don’t hit our goal by December 31st and we’re around 50% of the way there, it’s much farther ahead than we would be if we were just sitting around doing feasibility studies and discussing whether or not we should take it on. And the second half is always easier to raise than the first because you’ve got the momentum and that there are others who believe in what you’re doing.

How did you go about making the ask to get your first chairman?

The organization had pretty much gotten as far as it was going to go with our contacts. So, I took your advice and found someone who is well connected and well respected in our community who others want to be around. One name kept coming to mind, so we made the ask. The first time we talked to him, he declined, and it was because he’s involved in so many good things and didn’t feel like he had the capacity to take on anything else. In the time between his decline and trying to figure out who our next ask would be, our pastor offered me a 20 minute slot in both church services and the next day I got an email from this gentleman who said God was talking to him during my speech and he realized he was supposed to be a part of what we’re doing.

What do you think is holding back so many nonprofits from take that next step in the fundraising space?

I think there are two answers to that. First, I think we spend too much time focused on programming. Yes, it’s the whole point of what we’re doing, but the problem is you can’t continue to do the programming if you’re not paying attention to your donors; nurturing and investing in them. Second, so many of us are very independent, cheap, and figure the least expensive way to get something done and stick with it. The truth is you’re going to get so much further in community with a leader who can show you the ropes. One of the things I love about Fundraising Freedom Academy is the community Mary’s built. It doesn’t matter if it’s a church or a nonprofit, communities follow their leader’s personality. The community that follows Mary Valloni is very approachable, optimistic, and cheer you on. It also helps keep you accountable to your goals. I’ve been telling myself the lie over the years about how I can’t afford coaching or courses. And books are great, but there’s nothing like the community that the Academy provides.

April has been a great student of the Fundraising Freedom Academy. She’s watched the videos, done her homework, and has had great success. This Thursday, November 21 at 1PM CST, I’m doing a free training on how to put on a six-figure fundraiser and giving you the tips that I’ve shared with April and my other students. If you are raising $50,000 or more and would like to know more about the Academy, you can apply at http://bit.ly/applyforFRFA. From there, my assistant will set up a 20-minute conversation with me to see if you’re a good fit and you’ll get the rest of the details on how to sign up.

To read April’s book click on...