Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
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.
So welcome to the good community, we're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
So let's get started. Happy Friday, friends.
Hi, everybody. I love AMA Fridays. It's like our friends get to come into our house and hang out. It's so fantastic.
I know anytime we can like it not be our voices. You know, it's such a refreshing. So I hope you enjoy the reprieve too. But this is kind of a special way we like to spend some Fridays and it's our voicemail is always open. And it's over speakpipe.com/weareforgood. And so whenever you feel stuck about something, you have a question or you just like to hear us kind of riff on a topic, go to the voicemail and leave it because it blesses our heart in a huge way when we get these. And it gives us great content that we know you want to hear. So get into this conversation come leave us a voicemail, but we got one today and we want to share it and kind of unpack it with you. So without further ado, let's hear from Tim.
Hey, We Are For Good friends. Tim Lockie here at Why It Matters. I got a question from two clients in the space of an hour. And I know the tech answer to this, but not the strategy/fundraising best practice answer. So when reporting an outcome to funders, what's the best way to report expenses and outcomes that span multiple funders, without going into the crazy land of tracking every funding dollar to every outcome dollar which is impossible? So this is especially tricky when financial backup is being asked for so can or should they submit the same backup to more than one funding source? Because while it feels a little bit weird, the reality is that reporting project outcomes to partial funders isn't straightforward. So I'm sure many nonprofits have this question. And would love to know your thoughts on it. Thank you.
Tim Lockie Oh, my gosh.
Oh, my gosh, Tim Lockie, one of our favorite tech for good friends. This is a really great question. And while it's very, very specific, I think that there is a lot to be learned from this question. And so if you if you hung with us for our Friday series, The Impact Arc, you know that one of the common themes that we talked about was asking a bigger question, not necessarily asking a better question. But asking a bigger question. And I think this really qualifies on this one. Because what we're talking about is how do we report very complicated financials out when they're crossing multiple funders. And I just have to say, this is an incredible opportunity to talk about the funder relationships. So before we answer this question, I want to take it up just a little bit bigger, because when we had Dulari Gandhi, on in season one, we talked about what is the modern way that foundations can partner with other funders, you know, whether that's a foundation, whether that's a community foundation, whether it's a family trust, we want to have really sound relationships that are not transactional. So one thing that I would say is instead of just looking this as a one off, how are you bringing the funder relationship up and out because Dulari is telling us that funders want to co-build with you. They don't want you to just ask a question, submit your LOI, submit your grant and be done with it. They want to co build this application with you. They want to understand the heart of what you're trying to achieve how your their funding is going to power your mission. So I would back it up and say before you start reporting, I would say how are you engaging? How are you engaging this funder at the onset? Whether it's the program officer, maybe it's the foundation president or an executive director, but whoever you're working with, I would really challenge you that as you're going into granting cycles, reach out, ask them to coffee, you know, have lunch with them. And I would say don't keep it all business. And this is just the Becky art of fundraising, like when you keep it to all business, people don't understand the things that are truly important to you and the way that you that your passions are powered. So start there. But then we're gonna get into the detail of this question, because we do think it's a bigger, bigger question, because I think the way you report out, and the way that we've historically reported out is so linear, somebody asked for something, we give them back and I do think that there is like an amount of respect in that because we don't want to overwhelm someone with a ton of data. But I do think that you have to look at these as nurturing relationships. So we're going to answer this in two parts. One, we're going to answer the dang question just because we want Tim and all of you, yes, we want Tim to have these answers. But we're also going to give you a We Are For Good arc in this, and we're going to tell you what else you can do. That's not only going to foster the relationship, but build a richer picture of what this data, what this funding is actually going to do. So we did talk to Dulari, the incredible Dulari, who is a program officer, and she's also the head of D. Gandhi Communications. And she gave us some incredible feedback on this.
And I mean, I think one thing we love about Dulari is that she is so practical, but she pairs that with really incredible strategy. And so Dulari was so great to break down that there's really four typical ways that, you know, foundations are getting reported back to are the things that they're looking for. And so I just want to walk through those, and then we'll go a little bit deeper into what you're talking about, Tim. But the first is highly specific outcome reporting against dollars for major funders, this is those reports that tend to be really in depth and really individualized because it's a lot bigger amount of money accomplishing a really specific thing. And then you've got this mid range report, it's going to have less specificity tied to the dollar related outcomes, but it's going to have more funders. And then the third is a really a general report that covers organization wide, higher outcome levels, more of like an annual report type document. So there's less specificity of this dollar did this exact thing. And the fourth one is like the kitchen sink, right? When there's multiple funders coming into the same project, there's going to be more complexity here, because there's going to be individual reports that, there's gonna be language that clarifies the outcomes that have come through the grant funding, but also all of the funders are interested in their own impact. So in these a lot of cases, all the funders involved, they're already aware that you're working with other funders, and this is a really good thing. And so Dulari, just, you know, emphasizes that use that as a point to point out I mean, that is something you absolutely put in your footnote, it's a great talking point about how lots of people were coming together to fund this initiative. And then we can get into more specificity also. But this is just kind of the groundwork. So looking for these four types, but let's go a little bit deeper. And when you're really splitting hairs about impact.
So Tim, this, this is what I would say to you in terms of your situation, I would encourage whoever is managing that relationship to reach back out to their program officers and simply ask this question and say, I've, you know, I've got all this reporting, it's it's cross integrated. How would you like me to report that? Is it easiest to put an asterix on, you know, collective funds? Is it, would you like things footnoted and the thing is, if you already have that relationship equity, built up with the program officer, this is as simple as an email or a phone call. And I will tell you, I can go back into the recesses of my brain. And I remember our poor ops team, like spinning their wheels, trying to get this data and to guess what they think is being requested in these grant proposals. And so I say, don't guess, call them up. Talk to them. ask them that question. Well, you got them on the phone, you know what else you should say, you should say, we're so excited about this grant that you've given us, I just talked to the program officer that's actually implementing it on the streets. And we've seen outcome one, outcome two, we had an incredible story of dada duh, of John Doe doing X, Y, and Z. And wow, this could not have happened without you, we are so excited about the impact, we're already seeing it make, guess what you've already planted seeds, that that program officer can take back to their leadership meeting, you are creating incredible relationship equity, and you just solved your own problem and grew the relationship even more. This is like cultivation 2.0. And so I hope that answered your question, Tim. But we also got a little bit more that we'd like to add to it. If you want to take the We Are For Good arc to this question.
Because you know, we challenge you all the time, anywhere where you're doing tedious work to make a really incredible document, I just think of this impact that you're shoring up and you're pulling in these stories. The first base level is how are you planning to syndicate this outside of just this report? I mean, how are you storytelling this to the people that are already engaged in new channels? Whether that's email or social, or your donors, or your recurring donors, any of those places, thinking about it is going to help redeem some of that time that you can feel like you're spending all this time collecting and trying to figure that piece out. But it's not lost on me because we always go the marketing and annual giving just because that's my where I grew up in the roots of fundraising. And I just think about there's so much power in community, and especially in giving and you hear us lift these stories a lot. That's why we love to talk about giving circles and the power that happens when people give together through shared values. And the same is true if you're building a monthly giving program. I want to lift an example that charity:water and they get a lot of shoutouts for this because they do this exceptionally well. Yeah, I mean their recurring giving program called The Spring is their monthly donors. And there's so many people that are engaged in this, I want to say 30 or 40,000. Last time we checked, and these people that are contributing, know and have an understanding of their personal impact, like that's something that you can see on your personal dashboard. But beyond that, you know that you're part of this bigger movement and they're living in this beautiful space where they storytelling, both where you can see your own personal impact. But you also see that in the context of community, and that just further galvanizes the community that you want wrapped around your mission. So again, unwinding this figuring out processes to be able to do this is like powerful stuff and the best of the best are doing this. So figuring this out is only good for you as an organization of how you storytell And then one little pro tip I just like will throw on here. If you've never talked about impact, you know, in how you're fundraising, this is just something Becky, I think it was totally Becky's idea. So good job Becky all these years ago, like go for it. If you are trying to, you know, talk about a case for support, you should always be able to, at some level, say how many people are going to be impacted by this, just that small number, work with the program officer or work with the person that's going to be on the street to say, this is our estimation in good faith of what that's going to be that little number paired with a project helps humanize and helps people translate from what is the dollar mean, into what I'm really trying to accomplish. I'm really trying to help this population. And it's just super easy. And it gets you in this culture of doing that.
I love that call to just start with an impact number, if you have nowhere else to start, start with an impact number. And the 2.0 of that is lean into storytelling. Once you've reported out, here's the impact number, here's our good faith estimate. Go follow that story. And, Jon, I just think you had just a great tip there about how do we lift the story of this beyond just the grantee, because I think if you tell the story of unexpected outcomes, trends, behaviors that you have seen, because of grants, that is a very powerful thing to go back to a funder and say, I want to thank you not only for the gift and the impact this made, but we learned something very pivotal in this it was x. And because we have that knowledge, we're going to be able to better serve people in our mission, you powered that epiphany for us. And here's a story of someone who we saw live that out and play out, that shifts the dynamic of the conversation that is no longer a transactional, here's your reporting, your report out, I will just say if you can go into the heart of your mission, because I will say hand hand to heart and hand up. I am guilty of this when it came to reporting out with grantees. I think I would call up the operations person who would call up the person, you know, wherever they are on the on the street and say, where was your reporting at? And we would simply exchange that detail to the grantee. And it's like what a missed opportunity to not call up the person that's enacting that funding and saying, Help me understand what happened here, who are the key players, who in our case, it was a patient, is there a patient family, I could talk to? Make that story richer, the impact that's going to come out of that will deepen the relationship with the grantee forever. So you came for funding across across multiple funding, but we're gonna give you more because we think that there are so many opportunities that are just before us if we can just think differently about them. The reporting out of a grant is not just a report out, it is everything in the way that we deepen relationships with our funders.
You've given me like chills two different times during that, Becky.
Gosh, you're being dramatic.
But it is what it gets back to the core and the values that we uphold here. And so we've curated a little playlist, because these are topics that we love to pour into. And we're going to drop this into the show notes. But just real quickly, if you're in the grant space and need guidance, we've got two powerhouse episodes, not just the Dulari episode we've mentioned, but also DeaRonda Harrison, who gives you really the inside scoop on someone that has written a ton of award winning grants. And then we also want to talk about power dynamics. You know, it's like this undercurrent that we're all trying to understand and upend in a lot of ways. And so we lean into those conversations we dropped to last season that we want to lift specifically around the power dynamics and grantmaking and and major gifts with Iara Peng and Maria Choi. So we're dropping all that in the shownotes. Check out these episodes. Oh, my gosh, that's way more than anyone came for, right?
Yeah, it's totally more than they came for. But you know what, there's some powerhouse women in there that are reimagining what the grant process can look like. We're here for it. And you all are the engines that are going to power it in the sector. So, you know, pat on your back for being here, being open to embracing these new mindsets, because we really think the person, the thing that's going to end at the end is your mission. That's the that's the thing that will benefit most. So, get out there, go do your best work and know we're rooting for you guys.
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 Borsboom.
