Finding the Right Type of Event for Your Organization in Today's Digital World - Rebecca Alfred | Otter.ai

Finding the Right Type of Event for Your Organization in Today's Digital World - Rebecca Alfred

Julie Confer36min

Jonathan McCoy

00:01

Hey, I'm John.

Becky Endicott

00:02

And I'm Becky.

Jonathan McCoy

00:03

And this is the we are for good podcast.

Becky Endicott

00:06

Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more work, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.

Jonathan McCoy

00:15

We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.

Becky Endicott

00:23

So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

Jonathan McCoy

00:34

So let's get started. Hey, Becky, Hey, John,

Becky Endicott

00:37

such a good day when we get to hang out with our Canadian friends. No, we love our Canadian friends. And for everybody who's trying to understand and navigate, what is the future of events? What are we doing? Are we doing hybrid? Are we doing virtual? Are we doing in person? Are we doing a collective of all of them? Don't you worry, you just settle into your chair get comfortable, because we have brought an expert in to walk you through it. And we are so honored to have Rebecca Alfred here she's the charity relationship lead at trellis, which is just one of the sector's like most progressive leaders in person hybrid and virtual fundraising software. So we love Rebecca, because she is a super kind human. And while she loves marketing, she is just a great talent. And you have so many interesting things about you, Rebecca, she was a female founder, and an entrepreneur of her own business, she is a volunteer for the International Justice Mission, which is just one of our favorite charities. So Rebecca is just here, she's going to help us diversify our fundraising and help us look for new and creative ways to hit our fundraising goals as it relates to events. So Rebecca, thank you for being here and bring your passion to us. We're excited to visit with you.

Rebecca Alfred

01:50

I'm so excited to be here and share a little bit around what I'm seeing in the fundraising space and hopefully give some ideas to our listeners around what they can do or where they go next.

Becky Endicott

02:00

I think we're kind of all on the edge of our seats about this. We've had a lot of questions about it in our community. But before we dive into our topic, we want to get to know Rebecca. So tell us a little bit about your story where you grew up, and what kind of set this heart for service that you are kind of in that space right now.

Rebecca Alfred

02:18

Yeah, definitely.

Rebecca Alfred

02:20

So I was actually born in the UK, but moved over to Canada when I was pretty young. And so Canada is home. I know for all of our American listeners, probably questions about wearing Canada, so I'm just gonna say North that weakness.

Jonathan McCoy

02:33

Thank you. I know. Yeah, no, I

Becky Endicott

02:34

do I feel clear.

Rebecca Alfred

02:35

Perfect. I'm here to help. But um, yeah, since I was pretty young, volunteering and giving back has been something I

Rebecca Alfred

02:43

have loved and really enjoyed. When I was probably 11 years old, the first and only time I got called into the principal's office, and I was panicking as an 11 year old was because the principal asked if I wanted to help the school, pay what organizations to support, and lead fundraising for our school. I was kind of a keener, as you can probably guess. And then that was it. And from there, I started working with different organizations learning more about fundraising, and the different organizations internationally that were supporting all sorts of initiatives. Fast forward a couple years after that, and me and a couple friends went door to door in a mission to support $150,000 raised for International Justice Mission,

Rebecca Alfred

03:33

we actually went door to door we raised about $3,000, in a couple of days, just sharing a little bit about why we're

Rebecca Alfred

03:39

so passionate about that cause in particular, part of a bigger fundraising group that we raised over 150,000 within the year, but all of these different things that I was a part of, and all of the different ways that I chose to give and spend time as a kid and then as a teen and then now into my adulthood, I guess it has all shaped really what I'm so passionate about and how I can support others and giving back and so me coming to trellis a fundraising platform that's helping charities in Canada and the United States just seemed like a really natural step for me.

Jonathan McCoy

04:14

Parents, I know how you invest in your children and the philanthropist that they are at a young age always perpetuates forward like we hear this story all the time. And I just love seeing it in your own story and how that just impacting the ripple is growing and growing every year with your work now.

Becky Endicott

04:31

I know what the what the charities you recommended at 11 years old were to your school.

Rebecca Alfred

04:37

Yeah. So at that time for you, the children was just kind of getting started and off the ground. So that was one that we supported. And we worked with we raised about $15,000 I mean, for kids that are between five and 12. That's not bad.

Becky Endicott

04:56

Right? Oh, that's great.

Rebecca Alfred

04:58

Yeah. So that was when we worked with And then there was a couple of like local

Rebecca Alfred

05:01

charities just in our community we also supported at the time.

Becky Endicott

05:04

That's amazing. It's the power of an 11 year old could be the influencer. Nonprofits are not thinking about that, I can assure you I'm not. So that's an interesting story. Well,

Jonathan McCoy

05:14

I know that now you you know, lead this kind of relationships aspect, the marketing aspect at trellis, but part of your career was being this customer service success role, like very forward facing working with a lot of organizations on the frontlines. So I feel like you're, you have a really unique lens that you have gotten to see a lot of events be really successful or have struggle, or really figure things out. And I think your perspective is just so keen right now to understand what's working, what is of the moment, would you kind of give us a landscape of events in the nonprofit sector? From your point of view, right now, what are you seeing?

Rebecca Alfred

05:49

Yeah, definitely, I think the landscape has changed dramatically, as we think back to two years ago. In a pre COVID world where everything was all in person, we were used to an in person, Gala, or in person events. And giving was also an a lot of other traditional methods of maybe people dropping off a track or dropping off some cash at the front office of your organization. As we look at where it is now, and the organizations that we're supporting, and the ones I'm talking to every day, that's totally shifted, right? They're working from home, like many of us are, or slowly coming back into offices, there's more of a focus on virtual or hybrid fundraising, where we have donors that maybe don't want to leave their house, they got really comfortable staying at home and living in sweatpants. And you've got a mix of donors that are keen to get out of the door and meet in person. And so you're trying to navigate how can you support all of these people best? How can you make sure that you show up, and you still give them experiences or opportunities to give, even though that's looks completely different? A lot of organizations I talk to every day, they say, well, our challenges is that a lot of our donors are older, we've got older donors, and they don't necessarily know how to get online, or they don't know, they don't want to do it. They're scared. And they don't know the repercussions of that, which is totally fair. But I think even in that demographic, we've seen people shift, we've seen donors move to wanting to give online to seeing the benefits of that and seeing how easy it is, which again, has just opened up more doors for charities. It's

Becky Endicott

07:25

just such a fascinating analysis and experiment of the last 18 months. I mean, we could have never imagined where we will be standing. And you know, we even just had a past conversation with pledge. And they were saying that they saw organizations grow through their virtual leveraging this tech and this virtual pneus of events, you know, to fold. And so there are charities who are really leveraging it to its fullest potential, because your community is no longer just your geographic community. It is a global community that we can engage by leveraging these techniques and these tactics. And I think it would be helpful if we kind of just backed up and talked about these four different types of events, can you kind of talk through each of them and talk to us about why each of them are important or still have value?

Rebecca Alfred

08:15

Yeah, it's so interesting, right? And I love what you said there, too, right? We're seeing that shift. And I think COVID actually brought along some positive impact for the charity space, because it's open doors, like you just said, Becky, you know, you are not just working with donors that are in your local community anymore. You've now opened the doors across your entire region or nation or even internationally. And the potential for organizations with that alone is so significant. As we think about moving forward, and where do we see charities going next, it is really these four event types that you just mentioned. And what I love about all of them is it appeals to our different donors, regardless of where they are. So yes, for your in person donors, we can think about their experience. But our attendees that want to participate at home, or maybe don't live in our cities, we can also think about them and consider them. And so the four different event types, really kind of just to start at the beginning, or first one is what we call the in person event with virtual elements. It's the events that look similar to what we've done in the past of being in person. But now we're moving all of our fundraising elements all virtually. So people before the event, they're going to go online and buy tickets for your event and maybe make a donation at the same time. Maybe you bought a raffle or 5050 happening again, they buy those tickets leading up to the event, so they have more time to do so. And for you as an organization, you've got more time to promote that. Maybe you've also got a silent auction and now opens two weeks before the event. So people they're buying their tickets, they're making donations buying raffle tickets and they start bidding. On the day of the event. Maybe you have QR code set up in the room. So when people or checking in, they scan a QR code to buy more raffle tickets. Or they go to your silent auction table. And instead of writing down their bids on a piece of paper with the pen, they just scan a QR code where they can now keep it in on their phone. So they sit down at their table, and they can still be bidding, or even our guests that maybe can't actually attend in person on the day of, it's still an in person event, but they can still give, they can donate on your fundraising page leading up to the event, or they could participate in the silent auction at the same time as everybody in the room. I

Jonathan McCoy

10:33

just want to jump in here because I think we were big on just like breaking down walls. And I'm like, It's time for organizations, which I love that this reckoning happened. It's like, think of our retail experiences and how they are evolving. You know, there's not just one way to check out or to order or to buy something. And it's

Becky Endicott

10:49

really about diversifying the way that you engage, it's no longer about just buy a ticket and come and put your name on some raffles. It's like raffles may not appeal to people, you know, auctions may not appeal to someone, but they may be very called by, you know, doing making an outright donation or volunteering. It just feels like you are meeting your donors in the spaces that they want to be, and giving them all the options to connect in a way that works for them. And that is what I love so much about this moment in time right now. And yeah, tell us about the second one.

Rebecca Alfred

11:24

Yeah, absolutely. And I think another thing too with that one is, you know, you have to think about what you said there just diversifying of thinking, what are the different ways that our donors can engage, nothing's going to appeal to everybody, we can't do that. So how can we include different elements in different ways that everybody can engage? Our second one is what we call in person with a live stream audience. Going back to what you said at the beginning, Becky, around having maybe our donors that are virtual, this one really appeals to them to or donors that aren't in our city. It's the same as the event I just mentioned, of being in person and that whole experience, but we throw a camera at the back of the room. And now our donors can also watch virtually as the events happening, again, leading up to the event, people go online, and they buy tickets. So maybe we've got two ticket types, we've got the in person ticket. And then we also have a virtual ticket. So our donors can see that and they can see the different buy for the type of event they want to experience. We've got our silent auction or raffle all of that leading up. And then on the day of the event, our attendees in person, they enjoy that in person experience, that connection and networking that they love. But then our virtual attendees are getting to watch the experience to win your silent auction happens. Or maybe it's a live auction that you're hosting everybody's bidding simultaneously, they all engage on their phones or their mobile devices as the events happening.

Jonathan McCoy

12:52

I mean, from your perspective, at least from from how I look at this, I really feel like they are two separate things. I mean, I don't think you can think of like every decision applies to both sides of this because one person is in their sweats on the couch or wherever they're watching the event. And one person could be in their all gown or what? No kidding. So I think you've got to have some mindset of like, meeting them where they're at, and, and thinking through it that way strategically, because it's kind of a total different experience. Right?

Rebecca Alfred

13:21

Totally, yeah,

Rebecca Alfred

13:22

it's kind of like when you're watching the Oscars at home, like you're eating popcorn, inside at least one blanket on top of you. But you're watching people that are onstage and they're like, fully dressed up started getting ready at three in the world true. Example. And so maybe to start your virtual or your

Rebecca Alfred

13:40

virtual component, you've got a live q&a with the people in the room, right? It's the in person, attendees, and we're just doing q&a, we're catching up. And maybe it's your speakers, or some people that are more influential in your community or your network, right, our virtual attendees can still enjoy moments like that. And we can make that experience a bit more curated to them, even though they're still gonna watch and experience the exact same things as everybody else on the day.

Becky Endicott

14:08

One of the things we've heard on the podcast, which I think is a really great tip that I wouldn't have thought of is you really have to think about your teams. And the way that they interact as two separate teams, because there is a team that's doing the onsite production, they are controlling those messages. But there is a team that is dedicated to this virtual group, the messages are not the same. They need to be watching the the conversation that's happening and engaging in a way and emoting and dropping links and doing things that are completely antithetical to what's actually going on in the room. So that's another pro tip that I would love for you to add any color or context to that you've seen in your experience.

Rebecca Alfred

14:49

Yeah, totally. And that actually ties it into the next event type really well. But before we get there, one of the things that we have seen work really well is having one dedicated or a team of dedicated people just there for your, your virtual attendees. You know, it's the people in the chat that are keeping the conversation going, as the events happening, or as symbolizes, it's the people that when the events going on if somebody is having trouble logging in, or can't embed itself familiar face just for them that they can reach out and call or email to get support with that, too. But I love that I think having and thinking about your teams as two separate groups, is a really big piece of that.

Jonathan McCoy

15:33

I think your Oscars example is really resonating with me. And I don't even know the last time I watched it, but I'm just thinking like the red carpet experience, like having somebody that's like making it fun, engaging, having those interviews, that's like a different feel for those people at home, even though the people there in person are getting to well not hug each other, but get to have that face to face interaction. So like just creating that meaningful experience, because experience is where it's at with with the event either way, I think is so smart.

Rebecca Alfred

16:00

And our third event type is that it's that in person VIP experience with your virtual attendees. What we love about this one and how it differs from the last one is that now you're talking about to curated experiences, like you were just saying, John, right, that in person intimate, like we're all dressed up, and we're so excited to see each other in real life, we still have that. But our virtual attendees are now going to get an equally curated experience. So you know, while we're rolling out the red carpet, and we've put the whole experience in person, maybe our virtual attendees are watching a pre show that was pre recorded with a comedian, who's just there to get everybody laughing and get everybody excited. Or when the event happens when our in person, attendees are asked to go up and get a drink from the bartender, or virtual attendees, or watching a virtual bartender, teach them how to mix drinks at home, it's really thinking about, yeah, we've got these two audiences, and they look really different, the event can look the same on the outside, or the experience can look the same, but how they actually engage with it. And what that looks like will be totally different. And coming up with that curated experience with really, those two different teams, like you just mentioned, Mackie are going to allow you to hold that really well. And engage your donors the most effectively, depending on how they're engaging, which also helps you raise more than two the day.

Becky Endicott

17:25

My little neurons like my synapses are just firing if the creative potential of what you could do I mean, even just the bartending piece is such a cute idea

Jonathan McCoy

17:36

of not just putting a camera in the back of the room like that is not equivalent, like that's not going to cut it, no one's going to actually watch that. So you have to think about the experience for the at home audience as you build this

Rebecca Alfred

17:47

up that Absolutely. One of the words in the language we we like to use a lot here is magic moments. So what's your magic moment in your event, your events going to have a mix, and we kind of talked about it on a wave of like those really high moments of like, so entertaining, and so fun. But then you'll also have moments where you dropped out and it's more heartfelt or more impactful, and we're encouraging people to give. But on the top of that wave those magic moments, what are you doing to get people really excited.

Rebecca Alfred

18:16

And I think a really cool goal you should have, as you're thinking about your fundraising events is what do I want my donors to go back on Monday morning and tell their colleagues at work? So we've seen organizations do really fun stuff, like we had one

Rebecca Alfred

18:31

where they had a sponsor get into their car with a gift basket and just start driving around. They walked up some front doorsteps, and it's all being recorded live as it's happening. So virtual attendees at home are sitting on their couch watching this in person. Attendees are watching this on the projector in front of them. But they see the sponsor walk up to some nice front door knock on the door. It's a virtual attendees door, and they give them this gift basket. But it's a total surprise your virtual attendees don't know it's them. Everybody at home is a little anxious that isn't my house. Do I want it to be by house? Am I ready to see people and be on the big screen.

Rebecca Alfred

19:09

But it's just a really fun

Rebecca Alfred

19:10

moment, right and guaranteed all of the people that attended in person or at home, they went back on Monday morning and they told all their colleagues at work about the event they went to and that really cool moment.

Becky Endicott

19:22

Or it's Becky saying I was on an 800 person, gala and in my pajamas and my top knot and getting a gift basket shown I shot with my dogs. Yeah, whatever it is, I just think that's cute. And again, the wimzie in the in the challenge of what do we want to leave people talking about? It could be that little slice of surprise, you know, or it could be such a transformational moment of philanthropy where they felt the story of the beneficiary. Is there a unique way that you're telling that story? I just think it's such a license to be creative, and I'm just loving this conversation. Okay, so we're to number four. What have you got Rebecca? Yeah, so

Rebecca Alfred

20:04

that's our purely virtual event to end kind of what John just mentioned, this isn't just a camera at the back of the room anymore. This is a purely virtual event is not just a zoom call anymore. And you're really thinking about the experience, you're thinking about, how can

Rebecca Alfred

20:18

you make it something that your donors want to engage in, that they want to dedicate their evening to sitting on in front of their TV or in front of their computer screen to participate in what you have. We've seen organizations do some really cool things with this as well. Again, all of your fundraising leading up to the event is all online. On the day of the event, who the night of the event, people are online, they're watching, maybe they're bidding at the same time, or participating in a funder need, as the events happening all in one place. And it's all kind of set up in a way that makes that donor experience really seamless. I love the idea you shared about the take home boxes or that cocktail kit. We've seen a lot of organizations do that. We've also seen organizations do a partner with local restaurants, and ask the restaurant to provide a meal. So when I'm buying a ticket, I can buy my meal as well either have it like Uber or DoorDash to my house. And so my guests don't even have to leave their front door to pick up their meal. But then they get to enjoy that meal. That's a big part of the gala. Right? You go to Galveston events because of the entire experience. And food is a big part of that.

Becky Endicott

21:32

I've been dying to ask you this question as we get to the full virtual. Talk to me about the time limit of that program. That is something that's come up quite a bit, because many of us are used to having two and a half three hour events, you know, where we have a big build, and there's a cocktail hour, and maybe you're walking around to auctions and we have a slight intro, and then people eat dinner, and then the program starts and it's 45 minutes. I mean, we cannot expect people sitting at home, I don't believe to watch a three hour a two hour program. What do you think is the sweet spot in terms of how long that purely virtual event should be that you could really grab somebody's attention and activate them to give during that time?

Rebecca Alfred

22:17

Yeah, we used to say 90 minutes, but I think that's already shifting. And I think it's going down to like 60 to 90 minutes max isn't really your sweet spot. One of the big differences, though, as you're thinking about your event is it's all going to be about engagement. And they experience. So what are the different elements I'm including, and how can I make it really engaging consistently the whole way through. And then the other thing you'll need to consider is like you just mentioned, Becky, in person events, it doesn't matter if there's a 10 minute break, because I can just go talk to somebody else, or I can engage with other people, when we're talking about purely virtual events, you need to have something planned for every second of that for 90 minutes. There is no time for downtime, there is no time to ask people to like, go grab a drink, right? It's you have to fully engage people and the second you stopped doing it, that is the second you will lose attendees. And so really think about that as you're planning it. And hey, maybe as you're planning your events, you're thinking, Well, I don't have 90 minutes or even 60 minutes worth of content. That's okay, I actually chatted with an organization earlier today. And their event, they bought a 22 minute broadcast, it's 22 minutes. And they're really just pushing people sharing their story and encouraging people to give. They decided that at 22 minutes, they could make it a really good experience. It's not a big part of people's evenings, but it's just enough time to share their story. And so that's what they're going with. So think about your organization, think about your donors, what resonates with them, what elements, what entertainment would they resonate with, and then also build out your event around how you want to encourage people to give to and how do you incorporate that in between?

Jonathan McCoy

24:00

I think it's so smart. We talk about trying stuff. And I think this is the time to do that. I mean, figure out what resonates and just kind of build on that. So something in passing You said that I'd like to circle back to was just the idea of the funding need. That for us was always a huge part of a successful evening and an in person event. What have you seen is like the best practices for transitioning that to virtual environment. What's like the most successful way to really set up a fund a neat opportunity when people are scattered. And there's not really that peer pressure for lack of a better term of being in a room where everybody's responding.

Rebecca Alfred

24:33

Yeah, good question. This has been such a challenge, I think for a lot of organizations, because you're right, it is such a big part of how much to raise in a day. What we've seen work really well a couple things. The first is keeping that element of peer pressure of having people be able to see who else is giving in the moment. So maybe you have a leaderboard and real time as donations are rolling in. You can see on the leaderboard who's giving and how much The second piece that really matters is who's facilitating, if you've got an auctioneer or a host, somebody who recognizes those names, somebody who can bring a lot of excitement and engagement to getting them to facilitate something like that is going to help you get better results. And then the last piece that we have seen that has made all the difference with virtual events, in particular, is preceded contributions or pre loaded donations. So maybe you're talking with some of your big donors a month before the event, and they decide they want to give you $50,000. That's amazing. And that's a massive win. But holding on to that and releasing it at the beginning of your funding need, is going to make your donors feel like that's happening in the moment. The organizations that we've seen do this really well, they actually have about 30 to 40% of their funding goal, preceded before the event happens. So they know they're, they've already committed 40% of that. And again, that could be days or weeks or months in advance. But then as the event happens, and when that find any moment begins, they start releasing these big donations, one after another really quick. For other people that are watching, they're seeing those names pop up and those amounts and then inspires them to keep giving too.

Jonathan McCoy

26:16

What about in terms of pre recording versus recording live? I mean, I think this is a hot topic too, because it's easy to want to control things. But at the same time, Haven't we all learned we need to stop trying to control everything right, let go. So what's the best practice in terms of structuring the elements of the event, I'm just curious your advice there,

Rebecca Alfred

26:37

I would recommend and what I recommend to all the organizations I work with too, is having a mix of pre recorded and live elements. The reason that your boards and your leaders are holding on to that live event is because that's what we're used to. We're used to having somebody get up on stage in front of us and chat with us and engage with the audience. And at certain points in your event, like the funding that's so important. We want to have that engagement. And we want our our host or auctioneer to facilitate that and list the names as they see them rolling in. Same with a live auction, right, we want to have that engagement again. But there are certain elements where we want to increase the experience as well. And that could be like an impact story or a specific moment where we're about to lead into giving. We're we're sharing testimonials, somebody who's used our services, right? We don't want to distract our audience and our donors with poor quality audio or a video that's not buffering in time, we want them to have an experience that makes sure that their eyes are completely focused on the video, not distracted by other things. So pre recording those elements will set you up for success. When you move to the live elements with a funny that's in person or that real time and live with a real host in front of you.

Becky Endicott

27:57

I'm getting the nervous sweats just thinking about having like an even a hybrid event where or a virtual event where you're getting the buffering, I mean, it is so hardwired into us that the production just run seamlessly. And is that not all of our number one nightmare. And I do think that that honestly that fear drives a lot of people not to want to take the leap into leveraging this tech. So what advice would you give to them, Rebecca about taking this leap of faith because trellis has done so many events and vert and hybrid events over the last year and a half. Talk to us about the ease of use and why this is going to be relevant and necessary moving into the future.

Rebecca Alfred

28:40

Yeah, we did a study at the beginning of this year. And we took a look at all the organizations that hit their fundraising goals in 2020. And the ones that did it. And we surveyed hundreds of charity leaders, we surveyed industry experts donors to just get a better understanding of the landscape and where people were at. What we found was in 2020 60% of organizations did not hit their fundraising goals 40% into that though, and that 40% were the ones that got really creative. And as you sit here and think about those numbers 40% hitting their fundraising goals isn't great. Or at least it doesn't sound great at face value. But when we think about what the year entailed and the organizations that had to quickly adapt and move to virtual, or figure out ways to do that, those were the organizations that got really creative. They weren't afraid to jump in. And they saw the benefits of that because their donors were excited to support them along the way. So as you think about what you need to do and how you're going to hit your fundraising goals, this is your chance to throw things at the wall and see what sticks, right. Maybe you've never done a raffle or 5050 and this is the year you're going to give it a shot. There's definitely it's a definitely a great time to try things as not just in a charity space but worldwide and all that industries where we're getting creative around how we adapt and how we move forward. And so I think that you and your charity should think about how you can do that too.

Jonathan McCoy

30:08

Well, I feel empowered, you know, feel better informed a deep breathe, deep breath out of you, we can do this, you know, and it's not as scary as we make it out to be because it's truly an opportunity to engage more people than we've ever engaged. So okay, we believe in the power of philanthropy. I know you do this has been such a thread of your life, would you tell us a moment of philanthropy that's really personally moved you? It didn't have to be an aside through your work of trellis. But where have you seen philanthropy at work that's really stuck with you?

Rebecca Alfred

30:38

Yeah. Good question. One of the moments in particular that I think has really moved me was actually the opportunity that I had to work with International Justice Mission. And I know I mentioned that briefly at the beginning here, but I being somebody that was 16 years old, and working with another group of 10 other students, because it was just something we really cared about, we heard about what was happening around the world, and abuse that kids our age, or people our age were facing, as well as people a lot younger. And so learning about that story, and just the cause, and why they do what they do was so impactful. And definitely started me on the trajectory trajectory of where I'm at now, in terms of giving and, you know, even in my career looking for organizations I can support through trellis. And so that was a really big moment. For me, there was some really cool highlights within that season, where we were raising this money, including just speaking with just a group of adults, and just talking, they were all business leaders in the community, just chatting with them about what we're doing and what why we're doing it. And for a group of 16 year old kids to walk in and talk to some 60 year old people about you know, why they should give and seeing them in one night, decide that they wanted to give like $10,000 is a really impactful thing. And

Rebecca Alfred

32:04

when you're 16, and you're looking at people that are in their 50s, and 60s, and you're thinking they like know everything, and you know they've got their lives completely figured out.

Rebecca Alfred

32:14

But being able to share a story with them, and being able to impact them and encourage them to keep giving and the inspiration that us as students at that age were for them. Definitely, definitely also showed me that regardless of who you are, and you know where you've come from, or what you've done, if you're passionate about something, you can get other people behind that

Becky Endicott

32:35

too. I mean, Rebecca could have been at home at 16, watching Desperate Housewives, but she was not our Real Housewives of LA, but she was out raising money. And I just love that that kind of set the tone for your life. And you're just kind of still chasing that high. And it's just lovely to see how you've infused that into your career. So Rebecca, we like to ask all of our guests, what is your one good thing? You've given us a lot of things to think about in the event space today. But what's something somebody could take with them today and implement and make it just an immediate good change?

Rebecca Alfred

33:08

Yeah, definitely. Before I answer that question, I do have to clear the air that like I also did watch trash TV at 16. So like, you don't get the wrong impression of you people watch one good thing, or one piece of advice, I would

Rebecca Alfred

33:22

say, and I've said this a lot already, is just try new things. Try new things, but also watch how you're doing. And what I mean by that is yeah, if you haven't done raffles before, if you haven't done auctions, I would say give it a go and get creative. Think about what you can do and how you want to impact your donors to keep giving and find different ways to give. But then with that also tested and watch how you're performing. And that kind of spirals into a whole nother topic and rabbit hole, I'm not going to go down. But you know, look at your fundraisers that you've done in the past, see how they've done see how much you've been able to raise? Look at these new ideas that you have today. And also think about? Am I able to hit the same amount of like fundraising goals? Am I able to hit those those same dollar amounts again? Am I spending more or less time? What's the the effort or the ROI of the the time and effort I'm putting into things like this and see what's working for you. There's definitely no harm in trying new things, seeing what works and finding other ways to raise more for your organization.

Jonathan McCoy

34:27

But I love that you've encouraged us to not just do that blindly, but to really be reflective of what's landing and what's connecting and what's really worth investment of time. So such a great one good thing. Okay, I can't believe our time is already like wrapped up. Rebecca, tell us how can our listeners connect with you? How can you connect with chellis and give us a little bit of of what you know trellis offers and how people can connect with your organization? Yeah, definitely. So

Rebecca Alfred

34:53

we would love to connect with you over here at trellis. We are

Rebecca Alfred

34:57

an all in one fundraising platform. So we help charities with everything from tickets, donations, raffles, silent auctions, live auctions funded need. Even live streaming your events, we kind of support all of it more just a software platform to do that and help you raise more. So connect with us, if you want to talk more about the four event types that I mentioned, I know we would flew through them. Or if you want to hear more ideas of what other organizations are doing, I'd love to do that with you as well, you can go to our website trellis.org. And you'll see different ways to jump on a call with our team or connect with us. Or you can send me an email directly at rebecca@trellis.org. And I know the team here will probably put it in shownotes or somewhere that you can find my email and connect with me too. I just

Becky Endicott

35:42

think there's going to be a lot of interest around how this is going to continue to evolve and get unpacked over the next coming year. So thanks for laying the foundation for us. It was such a great conversation.

Rebecca Alfred

35:53

It's my pleasure to be here. Thanks so much guys, and excited to hear how we can support some journeys with some of these new ideas as they keep growing and moving

Becky Endicott

36:00

rooting for you to appreciate you.

Julie Confer

36:03

Hey, friends, thanks so much for being here. Did you know we create a landing page for each podcast episode with helpful links, freebies and even shareable graphics. Be sure to check it out at the link in this episode's description. You probably hear it in our voices but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before. We'd love for you to join our good community. It's free and you can think of it as the after party to each podcast episode. You can sign up today at we are for good.com backslash Hello. One more thing If you loved what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating and review? It means the world to us and your support helps more people find our community. Thanks friends. I'm our producer Julie confer and our theme song is sunray by Remy Boris boom

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