How Toys for Tots turns seasonal generosity into a year-round monthly giving program | RKD Group: Chat

Nipa Eason (00:04.856)

Welcome to the RKD Group Chat podcast where we bring you behind the scenes of nonprofit life. We shed light on the compassion and purpose behind the individuals solving the world's most challenging problems. I'm your host, Nipa Esen, and today we're talking with Kendra Mungra from Toys for Tots. As the Director of Communications, Kendra blends strategic communications with her marketing expertise to problem solve and provide innovative solutions for Toys for Tots. She has great insight on how to talk to donors about sustainable giving. Let's chat.

Hi Kendra, I'm so excited to talk to you today. You know, I've been following Toys for Tots and all the great work that you all are doing for a while now. And I'm so excited to hear more about your story with the organization and just your background in general. Can you start by telling me a little bit about how you came to Toys for Tots and how you kind of came to the nonprofit or like the industry in general? Yeah.

Kendra Mungra (00:57.262)

Yeah, I actually was reached out to, I think on LinkedIn by a recruiter from, that was working with Toys for Tots and they were reaching out for a social media role. This was in, I think the summer of 2024 and I came on board that September. I started as a social media manager there and have now transitioned into a role as director of communications.

just kind of gotten my feet wet in the Toys for Tots field and world and getting to know everything that they do or that we do. I didn't realize that when I was onboarding with them that we are a year-round force for good is what we like to call it. It's not just to physical charity. We do work all year long to help support children in need. So it's been great to kind of understand that and really dive in and see how I can use my skills to help Toys for Tots continue to make an impact.

Nipa Eason (01:48.15)

Yeah, and I'm going to ask more about that later because it is interesting how it's originally framed as like a Christmas time mission, but you all are working here on and so I'm excited to hear more about that too. Your background is in communication, so you bring a lot of that heart like learned experience, right? And you run your own companies too. How does that tie in?

Kendra Mungra (02:12.526)

So I actually originally wanted to be a graphic designer, but I didn't want to creatively burn myself out or limit myself. So I went into the world of marketing because I just know that's a massive umbrella and I could kind of do more with it. So I went into that field and I don't know, I just kind of love to do it all. I love the social media. I love the mundane admin stuff. I love kind of figuring out the fundraising, not so much, but.

I just love all of it and kind of creating my own businesses. I have a soap business and like body care stuff and then I also make sourdough and I saw that locally. And having those two businesses has really helped me figure it out hands on and you know on a smaller scale but it's really helped me in my career being able to translate those skills over on a larger scale for something like Toys for Tots or the other companies I've worked for.

Nipa Eason (03:09.016)

Sourdough and soap, I love it. Thank you so much for sharing your story. you know, like one of the things I love to hear about, because I think in the nonprofit world, we're always doing so many different things and have so many different hats that we're wearing. And so what's a typical day like for you?

Kendra Mungra (03:32.504)

That's always a tough question for me because no two days really look the same. But that's kind of what makes it rewarding for us. And we accomplish a lot. You the entire staff at Toys for Tots is amazing, but our marketing development team is an absolute force. And I'm really proud to be part of it, especially with our leaders, Ted Sylvester, he's our chief revenue officer, and Kelly Hardison is our vice president of communications. With them leading the charge, we can do anything, but...

You know, on any given day, we're producing a huge range of content. We're managing daily social media posts, designing flyers and ads and all sorts of things. Since I've transitioned out of the social media role, I'm not writing as much, but we also, we attend a lot of distribution events and things like modern day marine we actually have coming up next week. So.

We're always kind of putting efforts into maintaining relationships with a lot of our partners and our vendors. So we're in meetings and just talking with our team internally too. We're always buzzing around doing something and like most nonprofits, I think you're wearing a lot of hats and we kind of jump in wherever we're needed. So I think last week I was stuffing packages for our corporate sponsors to send them a little thank you gift. And then right after this call, I'm going to be heading over to Walmart to get some supplies for the event that we're attending next week.

all over the place, you know, we do, like I said, we get a lot accomplished and it's easier to look at it from the month scope too than the day to day just because every day is very, very different.

Nipa Eason (05:02.092)

Yeah, and that actually leads me to kind of my next question, because Toys for Tots, like we were talking about just a minute ago, initially when you look at it, it feels like, this is like for Christmas, right? And the mission is kind of organized around that. But you all are working on a month-to-month cadence, a daily cadence, really. But how are you positioning Toys for Tots to be this year-round organization, as well as encouraging donors to see that as well in terms of monthly giving?

Kendra Mungra (05:32.878)

And beyond our programs too, we've built a lot of strategic partnerships that help us expand our reach. So collaborations with Richard Childress Racing and Austin Dillon, who drives the number three toys for tots Chevrolet and helps us kind of get our brand out there. And then we've gone into our second year with a partnership with Toddler of the Year. It's a competition that helps us raise awareness of our year round mission and appearances at events like the Hollywood Christmas Parade too.

really help us kind of get our brand and our name and everything out there and just kind of remind people that we are here year round. People are like, why are we seeing Toys for Tots here in April? And it triggers them to go to our website and then learn about our year round impact. And we kind of align those programs and partnerships with our monthly messaging so that we can consistently educate and just remind the public that we're here. And that's where we can get creative too.

Nipa Eason (06:29.666)

Yeah, I saw the toddler of the year campaign highlighted on your website. looks amazing. Would you say that that's one of the more innovative ideas or is there another one, an innovative idea or campaign that you've used for monthly giving?

Kendra Mungra (06:45.23)

I think that's one of the, I would consider that one of those like pop-up things that kind of move away. For our monthly campaigns, we create a roadmap of different themes that align with our program. So we have disaster response and recovery that we're educating on, I think this month. And it's hope in the hardest moments is one of the taglines that we came up with and also revving up for hope that aligned with the race that just took place this last week.

for Austin Dillon to rev up his engine for Hope for Children in Need. So we align things that way. I think one of my favorite campaigns is actually from, I believe, last January. And it was one that we created in order to get some new sustainer. So it was called Set It and Forget It. And it just encouraged our donors to kind of do the easy thing and just set up a recurring monthly payment. And it reminded them that giving really can just kind of be that easy. It's simple, it's automatic, and it's

really resonated well. We got some good lasting sustainers and yeah, was just kind of one of those ones that's like so catchy but so simple and it had a really great impact.

Nipa Eason (07:53.762)

Yeah, that convenience piece, I think, is something that people forget that if we can make it convenient for people, they will give. Yeah. I guess what I know monthly giving, it's kind of intimidating to a lot of nonprofits because that's how you get this sustainable funding, but it's really hard to feel like you can communicate about that. What are some challenges or lessons that you've learned in approaching it this way?

Kendra Mungra (08:20.376)

think what we're navigating right now is just donor fatigue. And we're really trying to figure out how to kind of come with creative and fresh new messaging about the same topics. Because we are constantly educating about our disaster response and our literacy program and the topics that we are always talking about. So I think we're trying to navigate fresh new ways to say the same thing and also not overwhelm our donors. A lot of them

sometimes are just here for the Christmas time giving and that's okay. But we are trying to transition to educate people to want to give year round too, but also not overwhelm them. So I think that's kind of been our challenge that we're trying to figure out.

Nipa Eason (09:03.99)

I completely understand that. What are, you know, upcoming plans that you're looking at for monthly giving that you are excited about?

Kendra Mungra (09:14.028)

I'm really excited about next year's messaging because that will be our 80th anniversary and I think we will do a lot to kind of just educate about the entire history and storyline of Toys for Tots and then everything that we are currently doing that we've expanded into and then what we look to do or are looking to do in the future. So really, really excited about that campaign. We just started the planning for it and I know it's going to be huge.

Nipa Eason (09:35.054)

80 years, that's amazing. Yeah, such a long standing organization and it has such good brand awareness. So it's really great that you are able to leverage that throughout the year because people see the logo and think Christmas, but you can clearly see that all of these programs are year round and you all are supporting these kids year round and that's amazing. Halam, what's your...

Let's talk a little bit like more holistic organization level. What's your favorite memory at Toys for Tots in the time that you've been there?

Kendra Mungra (10:10.818)

I think mine would have to do with some of the trips that we've gone on together, just with our team and getting to experience some distributions and seeing the impact in real life. It's one thing to write about it, but it's one thing to kind of be there and experience it with the people that you're working with to make it happen. So I think some of those events are my favorite. It's amazing to see just how thankful people are and how much...

What sometimes can feel little, we know it's a massive thing that we're doing, but it can sometimes feel, you know, when you're just in the mundane of it, the day to day, it doesn't feel as impactful until you really see it. And that's been incredible and some of my favorite thing.

Nipa Eason (10:54.104)

That's incredible. I love hearing that too. I think, like you said, there's so much meaning in seeing the actual work happening too. And I think that's also great. Is that really helpful for like team building and morale boosting too? I imagine that working in this kind of service organization can be a little heavy sometimes too, right? And so how do you all manage that kind of feeling while also trying to do meaningful work?

Kendra Mungra (11:23.382)

It can be heavy for sure. And I try to take those moments and use them almost for when I'm crafting content and try to make what I'm putting out a bit more inspirational. I'll try and tap into the things that people have told me or the messages that have been sent to our page of people just kind of unloading their life story and all the hardship that they've experienced and saying, a toy that you guys gave me helped give me some relief. I'll really try and tap into that.

help it shape what I produce so that I can hopefully, you know, write something that helps the next person or inspire someone else to give a toy to help someone else. So I try to, I guess, transmute it, if that makes sense.

Nipa Eason (12:06.326)

Yeah. Is there anything like personally that you all do to kind of protect your own mental health in these moments too?

Kendra Mungra (12:13.772)

Our team, my team, everyone on the team actually has always been a very safe space for me. I tap into them too. If I need something, I'm like, whoa, this message was heavy. Can you guys help me process it? And I also, I just have a variety of things I do in my life. Like the baking sourdough helps me a lot. That kind of hands on stuff. I'm a big crafter. I like to kind of just debrief, I guess, after a long day.

I'll go walk my dog, take him on a nice long little stroll somewhere and just kind of get back into myself and try to remember that, you know, it's one of those things with nonprofit. I love working for a cause, but you do have to kind of remove yourself sometimes and protect your mental health. But yeah, I try to do that through a variety of things, whether it's just getting out into the grass literally.

I'm a big reader. I'm one of those people who kind of likes to lose myself in something else. I'm a big reader. TikTok scrolling mindlessly, all sorts of things.

Nipa Eason (13:13.964)

Yeah, there's definitely a time and space for that, right? Like you need to shut off your brain for a little bit. And I think that's so important. So I guess, know, the Toys for Tots clearly is a very established organization, 80 years coming up. What do you, what advice do you have for others who might want to move into that direction, like move into an organization that's been established for a long time? And how can they make that happen?

Kendra Mungra (13:42.968)

I think definitely keep the mission focused, but also just keep learning and developing your skills. Stay current and stay curious. I think that would put you ahead of a lot of people in the game, too. I don't necessarily think it means going to school if you don't see that in your path, but I'm the webinar and the certificate queen. I rock them up all day long, so I think that that can really help you in your career path, too, in kind of setting you apart from people who might have the typical.

stuff on their resume.

Nipa Eason (14:13.59)

Anything you're focusing on right now in terms of certifications?

Kendra Mungra (14:17.228)

Yes, I'm actually enrolled in classes for Spanish. I'm trying to learn another language as well as ASL. I'm doing a self-paced course and a self-study course. But I am considering going back for my master's in the next maybe year or so. I haven't decided yet and it's a very onerous thing weighing on me. But I just actually finished some certifications a couple of months ago. One was for revenue and another one was a management-based certificate. So I'm always on.

Coursera and HubSpot are my main two, but any sort of site that I can get into to get some sort of certification, I will always take advantage.

Nipa Eason (14:55.286)

So it's that kind of like that growth and curiosity mindset, right? That you're constantly wanting to learn and grow your skills. And I imagine that's super helpful in your current role for sure.

Kendra Mungra (15:07.918)

Absolutely. Marketing, I have my degree in marketing, but I think it's such an ever-changing field that it's almost difficult to go and get a master's in, at least for me in particular. I think I see more value in something like certificates because they're typically more current and more relevant to things that are happening now while those courses are being developed. So I always love to just kind of do some, I guess, self-study sort of things and kind of take that route.

and just read up on what's happening. I'm also an avid social media user, so I'm always kind of seeing what's rolling out as it's happening and trying to stay current on it myself.

Nipa Eason (15:48.366)

Keeping up with trends, yeah.

Kendra Mungra (15:49.888)

Absolutely. So that's how I try to kind of stay ahead of the game and keep myself valuable.

Nipa Eason (15:56.846)

Thank you so much for sharing your story and your story with Toys for Tots. And I'm excited to see how this inspires other people to kind of embrace their monthly giving too and how they can talk about their programs year round. I love that. Thank you so much. Thank you. This was such an insightful chat. Here are three takeaways I got from our conversation that I would take back to my nonprofit. One, monthly giving is easier to talk about when you have a plan in place.

Nipa Eason (16:23.534)

Kendra's focus on their monthly themes really helps position Toys for Tots as an organization that needs support year round. And that planning can help create more strategic partnerships and solutions for monthly giving. Two, stay curious and continue to grow your skills. Kendra talked about the power of certifications and growing and keeping a curiosity mindset. And then number three, remember your why. For Kendra, she always keeps in mind that one simple toy

can change the course of someone's life, and it helps her stay grounded in the work that can sometimes feel kind of heavy. Want to chat with us? Email us at connect at rkdgroup.com. I hope I hear back from you. Either way, I'll chat with you next month.