How to Get Yourself Transitioned into the New Year

Jeff Schreifels 

Hey, happy New Year! I hope you’re feeling somewhat recovered from the holidays and the big year-end push. Before things ramp up to full speed again, I wanted to spend today’s episode sharing a few tips for where to focus your time right now as you take stock of 2023 and get yourself oriented for the next year ahead. Thanks for joining me today.

Recorded 

Welcome to the Nothing But Major Gifts podcast from Veritus Group featuring Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels. Twice a month, we bring you the latest and best thinking about major gift fundraising so you can develop authentic relationships with your major donors. Here are your hosts, Richard and Jeff.

Jeff Schreifels 

Welcome to the podcast today. I’m Jeff Schreifels. And today, I’ve got two of our Client Experience Leaders here with me to share some valuable tips with you on how to transition into the new year. So after the big year-end push, we know you may feel pretty exhausted and uncertain of where to focus your attention. You may also have some organizational factors that impact how and when you start on certain important tasks. I’ve got Theresa Tapocsi and Edie Dahlen with me today, both exceptional coaches who are working with our clients right now to make sure they’re transitioning into the New Year successfully. Which is why I’m so glad to have them on the podcast with me today. Welcome Theresa and Edie.

Edie Dahlen 

Hi, Jeff.

Theresa Tapocsi 

Thanks for having me.

Jeff Schreifels 

I’m glad you’re with me. This is gonna be a great subject. Now. I’d love to have you both share a little bit more about your experience and the work you’re doing with clients right now. Theresa, why don’t we start with you?

Theresa Tapocsi 

Yeah, absolutely. I’ve been lucky enough to work with Veritus for the past five years as a Client Experience Leader. Before I joined the team, I was a Veritus disciple for a number of years as well. And now I have the pleasure of being on the other side working with mid-level and major gift officer clients from organizations of all sizes and types all day every day.

Edie Dahlen 

Awesome. Yes. And I’ve had the privilege of being a Client Experience Leader with Veritus for the last four years, working with amazing non-profits all over the country. But before I came to Veritus, I brought Veritus into our organization that I was previously with to help us get our major gift program up and running. So I’ve actually been following The Veritus Way for well over eight years.

Jeff Schreifels 

All right, awesome. Okay, so before we get started with the episode today, Edie, Theresa, we want to take a moment to celebrate all of those people who are listening today and what you’ve accomplished. You’ve done such an incredible job and work to support your donors and finding joy in their giving. And the start of a new year often brings feelings of hope, opportunities and a fresh start. So today, we want to make sure that spirit of accomplishment and possibility is felt as you move into the new year. So congratulations, everyone. It’s a new year. All right. So let’s get started. The first topic we want to discuss is all about some common things that come up in our coaching with clients. So Theresa, I’ll have you kick off with this question. What are some of the things you hear as fundraisers try to transition into the new year? And how do you coach them on overcoming those challenges?

Theresa Tapocsi 

Yeah, well, I think the first thing that comes to mind is work from calendar year-end might not be over yet. You’re still seeing gifts come in, you’re busy doing stewardship or thank you calls. So really the beginning of January can still feel like December Part Two. And if that’s you, I would say my advice is if you’re feeling that January busyness, stay the course. There are a lot of priorities to juggle; being time-sensitive to saying thank you for the gifts is obviously a top priority. But the good news is, this is something you know how to do. You’ve been doing it for the last month. So you know you can keep doing that. And revel in that joy because being busy having to make a lot of thank you calls is the best kind of busy for a gift officer. So make sure you are enjoying that and enjoying getting to say thank you to your donors, because it’s the result of all of your hard work.

Theresa Tapocsi 

And another thing a lot of organizations might be noticing are delays in gift processing. So many things are out of our control in terms of gifts processing, maybe paging companies are behind or your data team is swamped. I don’t know about you two, but I will not forget how slow mail was in 2020 and how crazy that was for our clients. And I will tell you all that patience is a virtue when it comes to gift processing. I am not a patient person. I know that when I’ve been anxious to find out if my donors have given, I’ve hated waiting, but constantly hounding the data team is not helping anyone in this scenario, it’s just gonna frustrate them or make you more anxious. So make sure we take a moment and breathe and find that healthy balance of gently following up but also giving grace during a busy time.

Theresa Tapocsi 

And my other advice would be: be extra communicative with your donors, if you are experiencing these delays. Back in 2020, when we were experiencing the crazy mail delays, and I had several gift officers use that as a reason to follow up with their donors. Let them know how behind processing is, let them know about the mail. Say if you did send in a gift, I’m so sorry that you haven’t been thanked yet. We’re still looking for it. I will reach out to you as soon as I see it come in, you know, and that worked out really well. Because then a lot of those question mark donors that they weren’t sure if they were coming in, got back to them and say, Yes, it is in the mail, please let me know when you receive it. So it can work in a lot of ways just be extra communicative. And then one other thing I can chime in with is after the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, both from a work standpoint, and maybe from your home life, there’s a risk of feeling burned out, and that is not the way to start the new year. Jeff said we want to start refreshed and hopeful. So make time make sure you’re taking that time, take the time to refresh, take the time to replenish your spirit and get yourself started. You can’t pour from an empty cup. So whatever you need to do, whether it’s taking a couple days off to read, decompress, or taking some time to give yourself a mission moment and remind yourself why you do that work. Make sure you’re doing that and celebrate your results as a way to fill yourself up too.

Edie Dahlen 

Absolutely love that. And many of the fundraisers that I work with are really focused on the numbers and if they met their goals. Did I meet my goal? Where am I at with my goals? But my advice to you is to ask yourself this instead: did I work my plan? You honestly don’t have any control over if a donor decides to give to your organization, but you will have full control over the type of relationship you build and how you’re communicating with that donor. So let’s get out of our head with the numbers and focus on what we do have control over. Things like: did you report back to your donors in a way that was meaningful to them? Did you share the need with your donors and ask boldly for support in an area that is meaningful, and brings them joy to fund? Did you thank your donors throughout the year and share the impact of their gifts? So if you take the time to really reflect on your portfolio and each donor in your portfolio, and you can explain the reason why the donor gave less, gave more, than you’ve really done your job as a fundraiser that shows that that donor is connecting with you. And you have built a solid relationship with that donor.

Jeff Schreifels 

Amen. That is such a big thing to know. Because so many fundraisers worry about this goal thing. And you know, how did I do last year versus this year? And you’re right, if you can just focus on: did I work my plan? If you did that, you’re right. That’s all you can do. Because you can’t control these other outside influences. You can’t control the economy, can’t control somebody’s losing their job, or a donor saying, you know, they just decided they didn’t want to give. You can’t control any of that. You can only control working your plan. That’s it. Now, when you’re coaching fundraisers, what do you recommend that they focus on most as they move into the new year?

Edie Dahlen 

Well, as Theresa already talked about, we really want to make sure that you’re on top of that thank you process and that your thank-you’s are done in a meaningful way and being as creative as possible. Your thank-you calls can also be a really great way to connect with someone that you haven’t been able to connect with this whole last year, and engage with them in a meaningful way. So consider on that thank you call of sharing the impact of their gift right on that call. So for example, you know, Theresa, thank you so much for your gift of $5,000. That was the equivalent of X, Y, and Z. And this type of language really does give the donor some tangible results of the impact of their gift. So you can use your thank you call to also qualify your new donors. So simply adapt your thank you call to serve as your introductory call. This is a really great time to qualify that donor.

Edie Dahlen 

One of the really important tasks for January is to be paying attention to the mix of your donors in your caseload and reviewing if they are actually delivering economic impact to your organization. So after all the year-end gifts are processed, we want to take a really thorough look at our caseload and do a caseload refresh. And by that we mean reviewing each and every donor on your caseload to determine if that donor should stay on your caseload. So the types of things you want to do is you’ll want to identify and remove those donors who’ve you you’ve tried to connect with all year, but you haven’t been able to reach or they’re just not responding to you. And also make sure that the donor that you’re considering removing that they’re not just on an extended vacation, or if they’ve had a personal life circumstance, such as a lengthy illness, before you decide to remove them. Also, is there somebody on your caseload that is giving less than your caseload criteria? Maybe you’ve got a donor that has retired and they aren’t able to give us at the level that they once were. So these donors might be better served by a mid-level program. Also take a look at your tiers that you’ve given each donor. Based on what you know about that donor or their giving level, do you need to move these donors up a tier or down a tier? And just remember that your tiers help you determine how much time you’re going to spend with that donor. And finally, you’re going to need to replace those donors that you removed by selecting the donors who meet your caseload criteria, and ensuring that you qualify those donors to assure that they actually want to connect with you. So we recommend doing a caseload refresh twice a year, once in January, and then again in July or August. You really have precious and limited time to connect with your donors. And so ensuring and following this process really ensures that you’re working with the right donors on your caseload.

Jeff Schreifels 

Yeah, definitely.

Theresa Tapocsi 

Absolutely. The caseload refresh is so important. And it does take time to do it thoughtfully. And even when you’re done with that you’re not really done with the thoughtful time though. Because when the donors who are still left in your portfolio, you still need to do a deep dive with them. So you want to review, where did you think you would be right now? If you’re on a calendar year, fiscal year, reflect on the last year of your relationship with the donor and then start planning for this year. Make sure you’re setting your goals and cash flowing them. For those of you who are not on a calendar year fiscal year, how have your plans from maybe the first half of the year worked out for you? What do you need to adjust now as you’re heading into the back half of the year? So don’t forget, you can also shift the timing of your cash flow goals if you need to. So if John Smith was goaled at $5K for December, but he only gave $3K, why don’t change your December goal to $3K? And then move that additional $2,000 to a spring ask. Don’t forget to build a plan around that ask and that new goal. You know, review your meaningful connections with your donors. Who did you not get in touch with earlier this year that you would hope to get in touch with? Who do you need to focus on early in the year? And maybe as Edie said, you can get to them on a stewardship call. But if not, what’s your new plan for them? Take time to build that into your DEP. Look at your touch point plan plans for the rest of the calendar year. Do you need to adjust some? Maybe you need to flush something out in more detail that you’d only noted conceptually? So I have a lot of clients who will put something very simple, like report back on impact. Well, if you’re going to do that in February, and now it’s January, I think we need to think through what exactly do you need to send? And how are you going to get that information? And last, who’s standing out in a good way? Is there anything you can brainstorm or think about to do to steward those donors in a special way make them feel really honored for their additional gift and support?

Edie Dahlen 

We’ll also want to start talking to donors now about their IRA direct gifts. So since these gifts count towards the required minimum distributions, this is something that most people with our IRAs are addressing at the beginning of the year. Now most fundraisers think of giving as a year-end thing. But people with IRAs want to know what they need to distribute over the course of the upcoming year. So you want to start early to have those conversations now with your IRA donors.

Jeff Schreifels 

Good point.

Edie Dahlen 

This is also a great time to thank your internal team for all of their hard work. So unless you’re a one-person shop, you likely do not do this work alone. So think about who you should reach out to to thank for the things that you requested all throughout the year that allowed you to be really successful in your role. So you’ll want to thank the program staff for all the stories and the other anecdotal information you used in your donor communications all year long, and maybe share some real results that came in from those heartfelt stories, like what did you hear from your donors? Did some significant gifts come in that were a direct response to that story? Also, what about thanking finance for crunching those numbers for you when you were putting together your really strong proposals for your donors? And what about thanking admin and gift processing teams for all their hard work all year? Are there any volunteers that you need to thank? Or what about even thanking your fellow frontline fundraisers that you work with? So take some time to write some heartfelt thank you notes, or take somebody to lunch or coffee to show your appreciation for how they’ve helped you to be successful. It’s really important to share your successes and celebrate with those who’ve helped you.

Theresa Tapocsi 

Yeah, I have a story I’d love to share on that. I once had a client, who very strategically asked program staff to collect numbers and photos and stories during a very busy season at the end of the year. So she then shared all the information she collected with her donors. And when she was getting responses back from her donors, she intentionally gathered all of those responses in the feedback she got, she compiled that information, and then shared it back with the program staff. So they could see how the donors reacted to the stories that the program staff had collected and the photos they had taken. Yeah, and it made such a big difference. If you can find time, to put that effort into really doing a YMAD (you-made-a-difference) for your program staff, it will go a long way to bring them to a deeper understanding of how they support the work and how much it means to those donors.

Jeff Schreifels 

That’s such a great idea. I love that. What are some tips and strategies you’re sharing with leaders as you kick off the year?

Edie Dahlen 

Well, I would encourage leadership to really shower their team with appreciation for the hard work that they’ve put in all year long. When you acknowledge the hard work, you’re boosting morale, and making them feel like the superheroes that they actually are. So everyone needs a cheerleader. So remember to celebrate the wins along with the team, no matter how big or small.

Theresa Tapocsi 

And I love that, I absolutely love that. I will also usually tell leaders that once you’ve gotten through initial wrap-up busyness, gift officers need time to do the deep thinking, the deep planning work that we’ve described, like the caseload refresh, but oftentimes gift officers get a lot thrown at them. So they don’t always have time to do that work. We encourage leaders to make sure the staff blocks off time to do that kind of work. We’ve actually seen some leaders have success establishing DEP retreats for their team, which is dedicated time the teams meet together, either in person or virtually. And the only expectation is that they work on their DEP or building out their goals and plans for their donors. And during that time, team members can collaborate on touch point ideas or share challenges they were experiencing. And what’s helpful is it allows them to do all of that while avoiding, I need to answer this email, I have to answer the phone, there’s six teams messages coming through. So gives them that deep thinking and planning time. You know, another thing I should say is, you also want to make sure whoever’s in charge of creatingYMADs for donor touch points, has a good sense of the schedule for the year. Thoughtful touch points can take time to develop. Some of my most successful clients will actually meet with their stewardship team or their marketing team at the start of the year, and flush out a full touch point calendar items that will need to be developed throughout the year so that the gift officers have touch points available.

Jeff Schreifels 

That’s awesome. All right, this is gonna be my last question to both of you. What is the one tip you give to a fundraiser listening right now to help them over the next few weeks?

Edie Dahlen 

I would say before you start just jumping into going to each donor and planning out your strategies for the year, you really want to take a look atthat priority Brett prioritizing the caseload refresh, to ensure you’re working with the very best donors that bring in the largest ROI for your organization.

Theresa Tapocsi 

Above that, I will usually say you know, you’ve spent a lot the last few months doing a lot of doing implementing plans, meeting with people, phone calls, emails, that’s all I’m hearing, you know, at December from my clients. So now that you’re past that, it’s okay to take a pause and doing and really give yourself some thinking time and some planning time. Block off your calendars if your leadership doesn’t hear this podcast and so they don’t give you a DEP retreat. Give yourself your own little DEP retreat so you have the time and space to build all that out. A solid plan at the start of your year allows you to be more successful in implementing your plan all year long.

Edie Dahlen 

We should make a DEP retreat mandatory.

Jeff Schreifels 

Wow. Okay, so you’ve given everyone, you’ve basically given them a roadmap for January and into February. So thank you for that. And thank you for joining me Theresa and Edie. And we hope that you’ve got some really great tips for how to transition well in in the new year. And if you’d like to get important support for yourself or your team with coaching like what Theresa and Edie shared today, we’d love to connect. Just click on the link in the show notes to schedule time with my colleague Amy Chapman to learn more about how we can partner with you to help you and your organization make even a greater difference in the world. Take care, and we’ll see you next time.

Recorded 

Thank you for joining us for the Nothing But Major Gifts podcast from Veritus group. Richard and Jeff also write an ongoing blog that you can subscribe to for free at veritusgroup.net. Please join us again next time.