On this episode of the RKD Group: Thinkers Podcast, we’re excited to sit down with Dana Snyder, a dynamic speaker, author, entrepreneur and the mastermind behind cultivating passionate audiences for nonprofits. With a career that spans coast-to-coast, from New York to Los Angeles, Dana has worked with notable organizations like American Idol, Movember and Dress for Success.
She’s dedicated to helping nonprofit marketers build communities of recurring donors through her Monthly Giving Mastermind program and her new book, "The Monthly Giving Mastermind." Dana brings a fresh perspective on using storytelling and digital strategies to transform nonprofit fundraising and create lasting impact.
In this conversation, Dana discusses the importance of monthly giving in the nonprofit sector. She explains how there's help in solving common challenges and providing support for solopreneurs and small organizations. Dana highlights the need for organizations to prioritize recurring giving and create a strong brand identity around their monthly giving programs. She also touches on the misconceptions about the demographics of monthly donors and the behavioral traits that make someone more likely to give recurring gifts.
She shares:
- Mastermind groups can provide valuable support and solutions for solopreneurs and small organizations in the nonprofit sector.
- There is a growing obsession with monthly giving due to the desire for sustainable funding and the cultural shift towards subscription-based models.
- Organizations should prioritize recurring giving and create a strong brand identity around their monthly giving programs.
- Monthly donors can come from all age ranges and demographics, debunking the misconception that they are primarily younger or digital donors.
- Habit forming, emotional attachment, and brand identity are common reasons why people prefer to give recurring gifts.
Show chapters
- 00:00 Introduction and Welcome
- 02:17 Understanding Mastermind Groups
- 06:37 The Evolution of Monthly Giving Programs
- 10:29 Monthly Giving Stories Gone Right and Wrong
- 19:51 Building the Monthly Giving Summit
- 25:05 Common Characteristics of Monthly Donors
- 28:47 Dispelling Misconceptions about Monthly Donors
- 33:01 The Impact of Monthly Giving
Meet our guest
Transcript
Justin McCord
Welcome to the RKD Group: Thinkers podcast, the podcast for nonprofit marketers. I'm your host, Justin McCord. Here with me is Ronnie Richard, and that made it sound like it was two different people that was here with me. It's only one Ronnie Richard. It's not Ronnie and Richard. It's true. It's true. Wait, but don't you have three first names?
Ronnie Richard
Two first names though, so, if you count the middle, Paul, we’re out.
Justin McCord
Ronnie Paul Richard. So, at this point, we have a band. It's like the new Beatles: Justin, Ronnie, Paul and Richard. And this is not a show about Britpop. This is a show about people that influence nonprofit marketing and fundraising. Okay, so on today's show, we have a repeat guest, only our fourth in the history of the podcast to have someone appear twice. And we actually touch on that a little bit. Ronnie, tell us about today's episode.
Ronnie Richard
Yep, our repeat guest is Dana Snyder. She's the founder of Positive Equation. She's the host of Missions to Movement podcast, and the timing of this episode, we are recording it just before she has two huge things coming out. And by the time our listeners will hear this, she'll have a new book out, “The Monthly Giving Mastermind,” and she will have just completed The Monthly Giving Summit.
So, the book comes out September 3rd; the summits on September 5th and 6th―those are all in the past as you're listening now, but a lot happening for Dana, and it's a really interesting conversation. We tried to delve a little bit into this topic of monthly giving and getting some insights from her. And one that stood out to me is that we talk about, sometimes people think about monthly donors as this demographic, you know? They, maybe they're younger, maybe they like digital channels. And she said that's not really the case. It's more about behaviors, and they come in all different shapes and sizes and the same with the programs. Yeah, it was interesting.
Justin McCord
You know, it's, we also break down just what the heck is a mastermind. And it's not crying from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's not like some big brain sort of thing. It is, but it's not. And so, I think that's also something to understand as a part of, you know, going into this conversation. You know, we get to it at the end, and while this show isn't necessarily about the craft of fundraising, it's about the people, this is such an interesting tie together of someone in our space that has made a commitment to focus on an area of fundraising that is re-emerging and has evolved at breakneck speed in monthly giving.
And so it's so important to understand the why and the how. And I just love that Dana has has chosen that as a place to spend her time and her passion.
And so, here's Dana Snyder for the second time on the RKD Group: Thinkers podcast.
Justin McCord
Okay, Dana, I'm gonna start. I'm actually gonna start by sharing with you something that you may not realize.
Ronnie Richard
This could go so many different ways.
Dana
Should I be scared?
Justin McCord
I mean, scared is, yeah, be scared, be scared. Go ahead, tremble. Okay, you are number four. You are number four. You are the fourth person in the five-year history of this podcast to make a repeat visit. Only the fourth person in, yes, yes. So ...
Dana
Okay, great. Wow. Hey, okay, other three people, I feel very honored to be in your presence right now.
Justin McCord
Yeah, well, and you should, and Mallory is one and Shannon McCracken of the Nonprofit Alliance. At one point we told Shannon she was like the equivalent of Bruce Willis on Letterman. We had so many episodes with Shannon and then Tim Kirsten, our previous CEO, and that one totally makes sense. So yeah, so like, welcome to...
Dana
Hey, good people, of course. Amazing. Wow, I mean, yeah.
Justin McCord
I don't know, we need to get some sort of jacket like they give the SNL hosts that do the five time. So, welcome to the Two-Timers Club.
Ronnie Richard
Yeah, the five-timers robe, yeah.
Dana
Yes, please. Sweet, honored to be here, appreciate it. Welcome back to you, Justin, too, to this combo we're gonna have, Ronnie.
Justin McCord
Yeah, yeah. Right? Okay, so there's a couple of things that we wanted to unpack and get into the mind of Dana around. And it's one of them, what we're going to talk about today is why the obsession with monthly giving?
Dana
Yeah. It's real.
Justin McCord
And it is real. Then all the ways in which that's like, coming to life and what you're learning through that. But before we get to that, one of the things that we were talking about before we hit record was your Mastermind series. And it dawned on me that it's such a clever name, but I don't know that everyone understands exactly what the heck is a mastermind.
Dana
Yeah, such a good question. So, a mastermind; Napoleon Hill thought of it eons ago in the world, primarily when it was for men to do masterminds in business back in the day. Now it is very commonplace in, especially, the entrepreneurship world to get together for peer-to-peer masterminds. It's a group of usually like-minded individuals coming together to help each other solve common challenges, issues, questions―usually a smaller group
I've been a part of one that was about 20. I've also been a part of smaller ones where it's about five. And then that's how I run my mastermind. But I found it so like, cathartic to be a part of one as a solopreneur. And listeners, if you are a solopreneur or run a small shop, where sometimes you feel like you're just second-guessing decisions or like, God, wish I just, like, am I the only person having this problem? And you feel so alone. The mastermind is this breath of truly fresh air where somebody else is like, dude, totally in the same spot. Let's brainstorm it together. This is where I'm at. There's a lot of like, vulnerability that comes up, but you can troubleshoot things together. And so, that's my definition of a mastermind.
Justin McCord
And the same cohort, the same group, meets regularly. So it's like for a, you know, extended period, right? So, a handful of weeks, two months, et cetera. And so, you do build like, some camaraderie along the way?
Dana
Yes, correct. Yeah, the one I was a part of in 2021, we met for a year. And then the one that I run in building monthly giving programs runs for four months, but then we have reunion calls, which is really fun. So, after every group wraps now, like in the fourth or fifth round, and it like, compounds on each other, like reunion calls, new groups join. And so it becomes really fun where there's like,15, 20 people sometimes in there.
Justin McCord
Okay, so then, bigger question: Why the obsession with monthly? Like, where did this come from? Not why, where did this come from, that, you know, ‘cause when you shared with us your story, I don't know, a little more than a year ago, it was already there. It was already something that you were thinking about, but this has become like your, your bullseye. This has become like, your flag in the ground, right? Yeah. Where did, like, what happened?
Dana
Yeah, fork in the ground, yeah, yeah, yeah. I, well it's interesting, I talk about this in the book a little bit. My love for mastermind is because I was in one, and I just realized this format is so cool. I'm seeing myself change; I'm seeing my business evolve. I love the people in here; I'm building new friendships.
At the same time, on the donor side, I had just joined as a monthly donor to Dressember. They're an anti-human trafficking organization in LA. They have now gone through―I just had Blythe on my podcast, who's incredible, the founder―they have now just gone through a merger and acquisition with International Justice Mission, which is dope to me. So anyways, I had just joined their monthly giving program. And so right in the mastermind, every single month we're meeting, every single month I'm getting emails from Dressember. And this is like, 2021, right? So at the time, I'm still very much one on one working with clients. And I started to like, as I was feeling the impact of a monthly drive, do you have a monthly giving program? What's that like? And I started just like, look on the web, do a lot of research and then join some programs. I was like a secret shopper: monthly giving programs, leave some programs. And then I would talk to more clients. And the big thing that they always said was we just don't have bandwidth, questions on our tech, like, all these things. So that was all percolating as also our cultural obsession with subscriptions was already there, but it just continued to build and excel. And so I think it was like this compound of there was a lot of new tech coming out in the nonprofit space in 2020, 2021, and a lot of evolution in the platforms, right, to include recurring that just didn't really exist before.
So that was front forward. There was this desire for sustainable funding. I was a monthly donor. Then I started joining multiple orgs and seeing how that was all working and what I liked. So I would say it was like, this beautiful combination of all these things coming together. And I have this unique background of, I worked for a nonprofit, and back in 2011, we never talked about recurring giving. We never talked about it. We always wanted our donors to give again a year later, right, during a big ask. But there was nothing on our site, I don't think, about monthly giving; like, it just wasn't a thing. And so I have this unique background of being in the shoes of somebody who ran like, development marketing for a nonprofit. And then I did the New York City thing that we talked about in our last episode of working on the agency side for PR and these big brands, working on I Am American Idol, which we had talked about from a storytelling perspective. And then I love ... technology and doing research. And I just am a very tech-forward person and understand it. And so, it's this unique world about having relationships with a lot of creatives and marketers. And so, when I decided to build the monthly giving mastermind, I had this Rolodex of copywriters, and graphic designers and how we build the programs. And so it just naturally kind of created itself.
Justin McCord
It just like, you woke up one day, and there's the obsession. Like, there's the focus, right? But it's, yeah. Well, but it's also the, and I love the … can you make the sound effect again? There, ‘cause that, ‘cause like, as that happened, as that happened, it's also ...
Dana
Yeah, basically it was obsession with multiple things that all like, locked in place.
Justin McCord
The idea of the subscription economy in our everyday lives has now poured over into our charitable activities. It's done more and more of that over the last two years, three years, four years in terms of a rise in some time. And so, it's that you were experiencing the sound effect that you just did.
Dana
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Justin McCord
Thank you. At the same time that I feel like the sector was experiencing some of that sound effect.
Dana
Yes, correct. And I think it was also … so something I have always said―I started my business seven years ago―was that I really wanted to amplify positive stories of change. And the way that that happens is through us living charitably and talking about those experiences. The way for us to do that is to become these micro, everyday philanthropists. And I talk about this too where for just number, human trafficking is such a massive issue. And I felt, what is my one-time $25 gift gonna do? Like, that just felt like, not worthy of even giving, right? Even though I know that's silly, and every dollar counts. But when they launched―and Dressember didn't start with a monthly giving program, they built it after the fact, they were a peer-to-peer campaign―they realized they needed one for sustainability. And so in predictive funding,
And so, when they created the program and then it was being marketed to me, the collective was like, ooh, but I could give $25 a month, and that multiplied by hundreds of people, that can actually do something. And so I now felt like a philanthropist, even though I wasn't giving hundreds of thousands of dollars at this stage in my life.
Ronnie Richard
I'm curious, so as you've been thinking about monthly giving over the last three or four years, and you've talked to people about it and really been immersed in it, how has your perception of it changed? Or what have you noticed in, maybe it's the behaviors or the preferences of monthly donors, because it really is, it's a different approach and a different mindset than what our space saw before. So I'm curious, what learnings have you had from that?
Dana
Yeah, so I think the coolest thing has been like, I have not been in a nonprofit in a long time, right? I have been trying to cultivate all the conversations around it, and now I help build them and get them off the ground. But my learnings come from what is working in the space, right? So part of the book was like, sure, I'm gonna share this framework. But to your point, Ronnie, I interviewed, I went out and interviewed 15 nonprofits of all different sizes, of all different causes, of all different stages of their monthly giving programs. And I think what came up was they are literally all so different, the majority of all of them. I will say, the one thing is they are very big on being recurring-first organizations. They realize the importance of recurring. It is not an afterthought in their minds. That's a really big difference to these organizations. It is not like, a silent, ask number two; it's ask number one. The other thing is most of these organizations recognize that they're major donors. It's a pool of gathering people to become major donors for their organization. And then, number three, they, I would say like, 95 %, all have a very strong brand around their recurring giving program.
Justin McCord
Okay, so I'm glad that you mentioned what recurring first means because it's that primary ask. You just mentioned that they have a brand around their recurring giving program. What does that mean? Does that mean that they have put a name on it? Like, you're the, you know, the whatever club, or does that mean that they are elevating that offer in a way to where it feels like you're joining something, even if it doesn't have a label on it? Like, what does branding of that look like?
Dana
So yeah, most of them have names associated. There's landing pages. There's specific donation forms. There's videos. There's assets surrounding that. What I call it in the book is the first step of the framework is: Create a product. And I really believe that a monthly giving program is a product. Any product. Like, I am now holding this thumbs up blue candle. And in front of the screen, there's a reason for the scent. There's a reason for the price. There's a reason for the color. There are so many decisions made around said candle that takes a team, that takes a budget, that takes marketing, all the things. The same applies to a recurring giving program. And so, these organizations have thought about who are our ideal monthly donors? What is the messaging around this program? What are the creative assets around this program? Who are partners we're gonna have around this program? All of those things come into play when I'm talking about brand.
Justin McCord
How long was the process to get to the book? Like, from when you decided, all right, it's go time; we have to put this into a book, like, the process from then until now? Because we're right at the goal line and publishing this sucker.
Dana
Yeah. Yeah, it was so fast. So, we are going to have this come out after the monthly giving summit, but I wanted to do a summit because I realized there are a bazillion webinars and conferences and things. And monthly giving is usually like, a piece, one session. But of how big it is and how important it is in our space, I was like, this whole thing needs its own event. And then after I like, launched the summit, I was like, this is like, perfect timing for when I should share the framework that I teach multiple times a year in the mastermind. So I wrote it in four weeks and it was published in four months.
But what I will say is I already had―right, I have talked about the framework so many times, I teach it―I had already interviewed a bunch of organizations like, even six months, eight months prior because I knew I wanted to write a book. I didn't know when it was going to come out, but I knew I didn't want it to just be me. I wanted it to share case studies of what was practically happening. So those had already started, but the crux of the framework was actually fairly easy to write. And that was like, 35,000 words of it. And I know, Reader, you might be like, what in the living ..? But, actually, when you're in like, your creative juices, it just kind of like flows out of you. The hardest parts, to be honest, was my story at the beginning, writing the introduction, and then writing the end. How do you wrap this up, and how do I want to start it?
Justin McCord
Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. What was the … so you're building on these lessons that you, you've observed and taken in from programs that vary. But you said that they all vary. There is some consistency in the framework, but they all vary. What's your favorite example of like, a monthly giving story gone right and/or monthly giving story gone wrong?
Dana
Yeah. So let me start with the one that went wrong and then how they reworked it because I think it might also be surprising. So, I came across―I did not interview them, so I can't say this, although I have spoken with UNICEF Australia, but UNICEF in general, they were having a lot of miscommunication issues and trying for personalization because of the scale they had, and they were seeing a low retention rate. So they knew they needed to fix the retention plan. And so they worked out an omni-channel, and how they integrated and scaled the messaging to be able to fix that retention rate drop-off that they were seeing and worked with partners to be able to do that. And a large portion of it ended up being SMS and text messaging, but it needed to correlate with the emails, right? So the audience needed to know who the person was, where they were in the journey, and then make sure they received the right messaging. So, on a more like, complicated, advanced scale, that was one that was, they saw an issue, then they went out to fix it and found a solution.
On one gone right―so this is on a way smaller tier, I'm gonna go with The Hope Booth. So Gloria Umanah wrote the forward of the book “I Am A Monthly Donor To The Movement.” It's a local Atlanta organization and super dope, if you don't know The Hope Booth. She takes phone booths and refurbishes them to turn them into like, mental health, three-minute experiences and gives you local resources, national resources. And so, she's trying to get a hundred of them installed in the next year. And so, big fan of hers. She did a massive crowdfunding campaign, had all of these one-time donors. And then she realized, no, I should have―right? This is what we all say―I should have asked them for monthly gifts. But that experience wasn't set up when she started. So now like, backtracking, and now her emphasis is all on asking people to join the movement. And so, in the book, I wanna say she was around like, 20 monthly donors or so. And then, now I think she's by far doubled that, if not more. And one thing that she did was so clever, was on a very grassroots scale on their Instagram account: They, she asked their followers to say, we have raised enough money from our movement community to fund a hope booth. You tell us where you want it to be. She had like, more than 1,500 comments of people on that one post, shouting out where they thought it should be. And then that raised attention to get to them to the website. And I just thought it was so cool on a very like, total UNICEF versus the Hope Booth, like, very different organizations, very different scales, local, global. Those are two examples.
Ronnie Richard
You talked about the process of writing the book, doing it quickly. The book comes out Tuesday, I believe, from next week as we're recording. Following that, you'd also just talked about the Monthly Giving Summit, but I want to hear a little bit about the background of that, how you built an event, a virtual event, how you approached that, and what has been your experience been, challenges that you faced? Walk us through that a little bit.
Dana
Yeah, I'd say the coolest thing is, one thing I knew, I wanted for every size organization to feel seen. So in curating, it's two half days. I also had been on the participant side, and so I wanted it to feel like, doable, and everybody has busy lives. So it's like, if you can take … it's 1-4 p.m., so it's a small part of your day, half days, so I thought about that from what's realistic for people's attention spans.
Then content-wise, I wanted there to be short, impactful keynotes. I wanted there to be short―they're 30-minute―panels, with people from all different size organizations. A lot of them are nonprofits interviewing other nonprofits as the moderators, so I wanted them to tell their stories. And then I wanted there to be a day which is fully like, networking breakout rooms, which mirrors a mastermind experience.
The other thing is I knew I wanted every single person who is speaking, who is moderating, who is a panelist to be paid for their time. I'm a really big proponent of that. And so I went out to partners, and I was like, who is obsessed with recurring giving like I am? Who's doing really cool things with their resources, with their tools? And so, I have to give a huge shout out to the partners of the event, that I have 29 speakers, three keynotes, Marcus Collins, who you know we're big fans of, collect together, the head of LinkedIn for nonprofits, Ariana Uni―and LinkedIn is posting about the event, which is huge―and then Rich Fleming, who is the head of subscriptions at Canva. Super dope dude from Australia, who, which I think this is also really cool, like, career transformation: He helped build three recurring giving programs before getting hired at Canva to lead subscriptions. Cool, right?
Justin McCord
No way. What a fascinating, I mean, obviously, that's a proof model, right? But we're so used to it being the reverse of someone coming from … yeah.
Dana
Yeah. The opposite, yeah, I thought that was really cool, and I like give huge props to Canva for that. So I just want, I so deeply thought about who are the participants coming to this, and tactical, inspirational, yes, but like, what tactical things can they do? And to have the community behind them and accountability. And so like, I created a Slack sustainers channel so people can join it for like, everyday questions. I think part of it is like, you go to these events, and then it's like, cool, I learned a bunch, but now I have to go back to work. I put in place, like, the mini-mastermind, the Slack channel, so they are given resources to be surrounded by like-minded people to make sure that they can keep the mission going forward. It's not just like, here's an event, out, like, see you next year.
Justin McCord
Right, right. I mean … and that is, that's one of the biggest challenges―and we've been participants and organizers and producers of so many events―that is, that is maybe the number one challenge is the, now what that comes after, right? And there's this halo that you want to be able to capitalize on. And yeah, I was just glancing at the, the 29 speakers, and there's so many of our friends and people that we think so highly of, from Brady Josephson, and Floyd Jones and Woodrow from Giving Tuesday, and Becky from ...
Dana
And that was actually, Brady, that was a really … so that was the one panel that I moderated, and, alert, that one was pre-recorded because it has Dean from IJM UK in there from England, and it has Thomas from UNICEF Australia. So there was a bunch of funky time zones in there. So, pre-recorded that one. And the coolest thing was, I didn't let them know I was gonna do this, but as we were wrapping our panel, I was like, do you have questions for each other? And immediately they were like, yeah, I want to ask him a question about …. Yeah, I want to ask him …. And I was just like, sitting there, and I was like, this is so cool. Like, this is the point.
Justin McCord
Don't you think like, yes, this is the point. That is the most unique thing that we too often lose sight of in this space that we work. There is this immense amount of compassion and altruism and this giving nature because we work in and with nonprofits, but the reality of how much we will give to each other is something that needs to be more captured and bottled. Just, that's awesome that you got to experience that firsthand with that group.
Dana
Yeah, it's hard, usually, right? It's like, you don't know if you're just in a chat or even if you're at an event, and you can be sitting at a round table next to somebody who literally is who you need to talk to about a problem, but you're sitting on your phone, you're listening to the session, you get up, you leave, maybe you never said anything to them and like, poof, like, that's gone. So, trying to make those experiences where people can meet each other.
Justin McCord
Okay, so you mentioned earlier, you and Ronnie kind of riffed on the idea that, you know …
Dana
Which, actually, I should suggest, like, this is a post, but if you get a VIP ticket, you can get access to all the recordings.
Justin McCord
Okay, so then folks can still like, get access, go through, they can see everybody's stuff and then get access to the resources as well that come afterwards. Okay, so in what you've learned about monthly giving donors, not programs, but donors specifically, are there common behavioral traits or other common characteristics of the type of person that is likely to give that recurring gift versus a one-time?
Dana
So, there are like, nuances to why somebody prefers to give recurring. So, one of it is habit-based is a reason. There is a legitimate like, I want to do good, but I'm so busy, but I don't want to forget to do good because then I feel bad about myself. So I'm going to sign up, and it's a little bit like set it and forget it, but then love the impact of receiving the emails. So do not forget to send the emails. I think that's a big one. That is a big question that comes up is, should I email these people and remind them? Yes, yes, remind them because you don't want them to see the money come out and be like, who's that? Yes, remind them of their good deeds.
So, habit forming, there can be like, very deeply emotional attachment if it's based on like, a tribute or giving in solidarity for someone that's been affected by the cause area. There's a very strong brand identity to recurring giving because you're saying, I'm in it for the long-term. So, there's this very personal, I call it―there's a whole chapter on calling the believers, and you're wearing a Yankees hat. You have bought swag. I am guessing that you are very much a Yankees fan or else you wouldn't be wearing that hat.
Justin McCord
I'm a brand fan, like, listen, I'm with you on the analogy. So use it the same way for The Dead, and yes, I'm a part of a tribe there. This is just because I like the brand.
Dana
Eh? Okay, fair, fair. So you're like, like the style of, do have a Dodgers hat, and I am not like, a massive ... However, I did purchase, I spent money to get the thing. But it's all about like, the monthly donors are normally the super fans that are actively participated in the organization or want to be if you call them to do more. So, habit forming; they likely have other subscriptions to other things. This is not just like, a one-off thing.
Justin McCord
Right? Yeah.
Dana
Emotional attachment, brand identity are the main things.
Ronnie Richard
Do they tend to be younger or digital? I mean, we kind of think of that, but yeah, maybe that's a misconception.
Dana
No. No, definitely misconception. It's interesting. One of my mastermind members right now just had two recurring donors. They were donors for like, six years, giving recurring, leave endowments for the organization. And so just to talk about the impact of, can major donors come from monthly? Yes, absolutely. No, they range in all different age ranges. Actually, they have almost 400 recurring donors, and most of them are over 50. Not to say 50 is old. It's not old. I'm getting closer and closer to that.
Justin McCord
The, it's not old, it's definitely not old. But it's so helpful. I think there's a tremendous amount of unlearning that we still need to do as a sector around demographics because we tend to naturally want to bucket people based off of age, yes? And, Ronnie, I think the question is so important because it does dispel some of the myths around giving types and around behaviors.
Dana
Yeah. Yeah, my dad's 70, and he donates monthly to a local Sarasota organization. He's like, I got sent their email this month, and I think about you when I get their monthly communication, that they're doing it right, which I think is really funny.
Justin McCord
Awesome. Very, very cool. Okay, so the book is available for pre-order now. It will be out ... You can still, it says, by the time you, as of our conversation, yes ... So, listeners, go to positiveequation.com/book, and it's “The Monthly Giving Mastermind.” You can also just search for “The Monthly Giving Mastermind” and find Dana, and you can find access to the course.
Dana
No, it’s out now. As of our conversation, yes.
Ronnie Richard
By the time you're listening to this.
Justin McCord
You can still, after the fact, you can buy the VIP ticket and get access to the recordings for the summit.
Dana
Correct, yep. Recordings and a cheesy pizza gift certificate to Domino's because, also fun fact about the event, I like fun: So the reason I picked the date was because at first you know, like, you look at all the events coming up, and I look at hashtags because I'm digital, and there was an International Day of Charity on September 5th, and I was like, that's really cool, so let's do that.
Justin McCord
Yeah. Yes. Talk about the pizza.
Dana
And then right below it was National Cheese Pizza Day. And I was like, okay, well, come on, I have to have pizza. So, I reach out to Domino's and got added into their bulk ordering, whatever you have to apply for process. Reach out to the guy on LinkedIn, and then got set up with that. Then have … Community Boost is actually the partner for pizza, so VIP ticket holders, even though you won't get your pizza on the week of the event, you will still be sent a Domino's gift card, and you get a whole year access to the Slack channel.
Justin McCord
I, for the life of me, can't remember another moment in time where there has been a nonprofit professional development event that Domino's was involved in. And so, it's going to be a success no matter what, but you are breaking very important new ground, Dana. I hope you realize that.
Dana
You know, it's interesting. So I just, I'm working on all the slides right now―so you guys are getting all like, the behind the scenes―and I asked people in the registration, what is your favorite pizza topping? Fascinating. You guys, also pepperoni and mushrooms are pretty much like neck and neck, which I thought was interesting. Whole lot of basil fans out there. A lot of vegan listed. It was just ... A lot of others: Give me more mozzarella. And the descriptions that people gave me, they'd be like, is there anything wrong with having all the toppings? People were just so honest, and I loved it.
Ronnie Richard
That's awesome.
Justin McCord
Didn't think we were going to land the conversation on pizza, but we are. So I'll share a quick pizza story. Personalization. And it's actually my favorite pizza story. And maybe this is something that you can use somehow in the summit some way. A couple of months ago, my wife and I were taking an early anniversary trip, and we traveled down the Pacific Coast Highway. We were walking along the promenade in Santa Barbara, and there was another couple that was walking behind us.
Dana
Personalization, that's what it's about.
Justin McCord
And we were just like, bouncing in and out of shops and just having the best day. And we could overhear this couple behind us, and one asked the other the most fascinating pizza question I have ever heard. And it was, so where are you right now on pizza?
I, why, I just love the framing of the question. Is this a pizza stance, or is this, are you hungry for pizza? Where are you at right now? Right now, where are you at? It is, it is.
So there you go. Dana, we are so excited for you for this fall and the next couple of weeks.
Ronnie Richard
How do you answer that?
Dana
Yeah, it's very like, elevated. Yes. Yeah. I love it. Thank you.
Justin McCord
And your role in that and your role in fundraising AI and the virtual summit, the global virtual summit hosting. Yes. Yes. Can't wait to be a part of that again this year and everything that you're doing. And I don't know if you're told enough, but we're so thankful for your focus, my word, obsession, your focus on monthly giving because it is such a crucial part of what happens in this little nonprofit space of ours. So, thank you for everything that you're doing.
Dana
You're welcome. Thank you. Honestly, I think it's, I was talking to Becky Endicott, We Are For Good, and it is one thing for us to think about it on, obviously, wanting to attract more monthly donors, but on what that actually does in reality is if more people are giving in that way, what other impactful decisions are they gonna make in their lives? And so, yeah.
Justin McCord
Absolutely, couldn't agree more. Good to see you, my friend.
Dana
Y 'all rock. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Justin McCord
We'll catch up again soon.
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