December 2, 2025 • 28 mins
Jeff Schreifels, Principal and Owner at Veritus Group. Jeff brings more than 32 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising, partnering with leaders and fundraisers to create transformational donor relationships that fuel mission impact. We’re going to dig into what truly moves donors—and how organizations can build relationships that last.
Jeff’s commitment to data and to building authentic relationships with donors began when he worked as a Senior Strategist at The Domain Group and led a team that executed strategic plans and direct-response marketing for clients such as, Feeding America, Arthritis Foundation, American Cancer Society and The Salvation Army; among many others. Jeff and his team helped raise over $200MM dollars for their clients over 12 years. In 2009, Jeff joined Richard Perry, one of the former owners of The Domain Group, to become Senior Partner of Veritus Group.
Veritus is a major gift consulting agency that has taken the discipline of direct-response and applied it to major gifts. This is a unique approach to major gift fundraising. Veritus helps non-profits all over the United States, Canada, Europe and the U.K. by helping create, develop, and manage mid and major gift programs. Jeff is a lead author of a popular fundraising blog, which focuses on major gifts called “Passionate Giving,” a regular host of the Nothing But Major Gifts podcast, and co-author of two fundraising books: “It’s Not JUST About the Money” and “It’s Not JUST About the Donor: The Ultimate Management Guide to Major Gifts Success.”
CONTACT DETAILS
Email: jschreifels@veritusgroup.com
Business: Veritus Group
Website: https://veritusgroup.com/
Social Media:
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffschreifels/
Remember to SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss "Information That You Can Use." Share Just Minding My Business with your family, friends, and colleagues. Engage with us by leaving a review or comment on my Google Business Page. https://g.page/r/CVKSq-IsFaY9EBM/review Your support keeps this podcast going and growing.
Visit Just Minding My Business Media™ LLC at https://jmmbmediallc.com/ to learn how we can help you get more visibility on your products and services.
Jeff’s commitment to data and to building authentic relationships with donors began when he worked as a Senior Strategist at The Domain Group and led a team that executed strategic plans and direct-response marketing for clients such as, Feeding America, Arthritis Foundation, American Cancer Society and The Salvation Army; among many others. Jeff and his team helped raise over $200MM dollars for their clients over 12 years. In 2009, Jeff joined Richard Perry, one of the former owners of The Domain Group, to become Senior Partner of Veritus Group.
Veritus is a major gift consulting agency that has taken the discipline of direct-response and applied it to major gifts. This is a unique approach to major gift fundraising. Veritus helps non-profits all over the United States, Canada, Europe and the U.K. by helping create, develop, and manage mid and major gift programs. Jeff is a lead author of a popular fundraising blog, which focuses on major gifts called “Passionate Giving,” a regular host of the Nothing But Major Gifts podcast, and co-author of two fundraising books: “It’s Not JUST About the Money” and “It’s Not JUST About the Donor: The Ultimate Management Guide to Major Gifts Success.”
CONTACT DETAILS
Email: jschreifels@veritusgroup.com
Business: Veritus Group
Website: https://veritusgroup.com/
Social Media:
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffschreifels/
Remember to SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss "Information That You Can Use." Share Just Minding My Business with your family, friends, and colleagues. Engage with us by leaving a review or comment on my Google Business Page. https://g.page/r/CVKSq-IsFaY9EBM/review Your support keeps this podcast going and growing.
Visit Just Minding My Business Media™ LLC at https://jmmbmediallc.com/ to learn how we can help you get more visibility on your products and services.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Speaker 1 (01:46):
Welcome to just mind in my Business Media. I'm happy
that you joined us today and I am so happy
to welcome to the platform today. Jeff Shrifles who has
over thirty two years of experience in nonprofit fundraising. In
his role as principal and owner of Veritis Group, he
(02:09):
has worked extensively with nonprofit leaders and fundraisers to help
them create transformational donor relationships. Welcome, Welcome gifts.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Hi Aida, Great to be on the show with you.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Great to be on with you as well. So let's
define what this all means.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Okay, you want to know what major gift fundraising is?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, yeah, exact.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Well, it's different by different organizations what a major gift is. So,
if you're a small organization, a major gift could be
somebody who could give two hundred and fifty dollars or
more in a year, and a larger organization could like
a university, could say a major gift is fifty thousand
(03:00):
dollars or one hundred thousand dollars or more is what
they would call a major gift. But generally, generally organizations
call a major gift anyone that gives probably ten thousand
or more in a single year and above, and then
donors who get between one thousand and ten thousand is
(03:21):
what you would call a mid level donor. So this
is kind of internal discuss you speak for or nonprofits?
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Okay, yes, I've worked for a nonprofit for over sixteen years. Yeah,
those fundraisers and you know, donor things, I get it.
I just wanted to make sure my audience got yeah, yeah, sure.
But anyway, what does Veridis group do in terms of
(03:50):
overseeing the data? Okay, it comes in for nonprofits.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
So we always we never start working with a client
until we their donor data. And typically what we ask
for is we want to know any donor that's given
one thousand dollars cumulative in any one of the last
four or five years, because we want to understand how
donors have been behaving over time that could potentially qualify
(04:18):
as a major gift donor or mid level donor, and
that data set helps us understand donor attrition or donor retention,
you know, how many donors are you keeping every year
and donor value attrition, meaning a donor might give let's
say ten thousand one year and the next year they
give five thousand. That means we lost five thousand dollars
(04:42):
in value year over year, or fifty percent of their value.
We want to be able to track that and show
that to the organization, and then we're able to look
for areas of opportunity for growth. And then we put
together a five year forecast that if you had a
really good robe by mid and major gift program, here's
where you could be in the next five years. But
(05:04):
we could only do that by first looking at the data.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
And so what nonprofits do you work with?
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Gosh, we work with small organizations like local food banks
and food pantries, rescue missions, but we also work with
large international organizations like Doctors Without Borders, you know, Greenpeace.
We've worked with large and small. We work with other
(05:39):
organizations like Saint Jude Children's Hospital, you know. So those
are some organism We've worked with organizations who might be
like five million in total revenue and organizations that are
two billion in total revenue.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Oh okay, okay, so you are definitely out there. Yeah,
different levels of nonprofits that you work with, and that's
right now. With the climate that's happening in our country today,
we cannot not talk about that. Yeah, how what is
going on with the non profit sectors.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Well, obviously they're scared a bit. They've lost a lot
of nonprofits have lost funding because a lot of them
were dependent or had government funding that helped do what
they did. And so many nonprofits are starting to rethink
(06:38):
where our other revenue streams can come from to help
us keep us going. And where we're finding is many
of them are finally deciding that we need to go
out to individual donors and start building relationships with them
(06:58):
so that we can start at that revenue stream. And
so for us at Veritas, we've had a record sales
year of new clients that have come on because many
of them realize we've got to start building a donor
base and start asking donors for gifts because we can't
rely on other sources that we used to rely on.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yes, yes, and I think even though it's a negative
climate right now, but at the same time, you can
find some positivities out of this mess.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Absolutely absolutely. I'll tell you a story. So we work
with a lot of public media clients NPR and PBS stations,
and you know all their funding went away. Yes, right,
it was a huge impact. And depending on the station,
each station has been impacted in some way. And so
(07:54):
they're realizing we really need to go out to our
individual donors more than we ever have before, and we're
seeing donors respond to that. So all of our clients
in public media, the major gift side has grown by
double digits year over year because you know, people are
stepping up to the plate. You know, they love NPR,
(08:18):
they love their PBS station. We want to see it continue,
and they know that with that government funding away, they're
going to have to make up the difference.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And it might be a good thing because you know
that old saying, God bless the child and has his own.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, I know, I hear you, I hear you.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, it's much more truer than ever now.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
So when when you when a nonprofit like say comes
to you, yes, I know you talked about you know,
looking at their data now in terms of strategies in
order for them to gain more donors, how does your
company address that issue?
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Well, what we usually find is that major or nonprofits
feel like they don't have enough major donors, but in reality,
they do they have do they have major donors in
their donor file, They just haven't cultivated them correctly. So
what we do first and with that data is identify
(09:25):
potential major donors or current major donors, and then we
help them develop a plan to qualify those donors. Meaning say,
your major gift threshold is five thousand and above, and
we find a bunch of donors that've given that we
wouldn't say yet, we wouldn't put them in a major
(09:45):
gift portfolio for a major gift officer until we've had
contact with them in some way that they show us
the donor that they really want a relationship with the
organization with that major gift of yes, I want you
to come and talk to me, or I want to
find out information and I want to know what's going
(10:07):
on in your organization in a deeper manner. Once they're qualified,
then we put them in a portfolio. We tier those
donors based on the best donors to the lowest level
donors no more than one hundred and fifty qualified donors.
We put a revenue goal towards every donor and a
strategic plan so that the major gift officer knows exactly
(10:29):
what they're doing every day with that portfolio. And what
we find is that they do have plenty of donors
and major donors, they just have never cultivated them correctly.
And so we're not so much about going out and
finding new donors or major gifts, because that really should
(10:51):
be done on a lower level scale, like you know,
your direct response meaning the mail or email or those
ways of developing that list of donors that initial but
when you move them up through and that's why we
love to have mid level as a program because that's
where you're introducing those donors that are giving just below
(11:11):
that major gift level for the first time somebody to
talk to from that organization, and that changes the relationship
and we see these mid level donors start giving major
gifts because they're finally been reached out to by an individual.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yes, nothing like talking to folks.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
That's what it's all about. It's about building relationships with donors.
The whole goal for a major gift officer is to
figure out what are the passions and interests of the donor.
Why do they have those passions and interests? As it
relates to everything that nonprofit does with their projects and
program and then matching those up. And when you do that, well,
(11:54):
that's when donors give. Because fundraising really isn't about money
at all. It's about building relationships so that you can
understand what the donor really wants to do with their resources.
And when you do that, well, when you gain the
donor's trust and you present them with inspiring offers, they're
(12:17):
more apt to give. The money follows, Yes, better the relationship,
then the money follows.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Absolutely, and you support nonprofits and that strategy.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
That's right, we go, we help. Right now, we're consulting
with over sixty nonprofits around the world on just that.
We're working directly with their frontline fundraisers every day to
help them be successful.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yes, and that's what they need now because unfortunately, you know,
they've got spoiled so to speak, and now they have
the work for it.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So if nonprofits who want to connect with you, how
do they do so?
Speaker 4 (13:04):
They usually come to our website at verdisgroup dot com,
or they attend a free webinar, or they've read one
of our free white papers. What we decided very early
on at the creation of Verdas was that we were
going to give away everything we knew. So my business
(13:24):
partner and I at the time started a blog and said,
this is how you're supposed to do this, have it
for free. And we did white papers. We have over
twenty five white papers. We do podcasts, we do free webinars,
all to give really good information out to people, and
some of them will come back to us and say, hey,
(13:47):
we love this, but we need your help to do that.
And so that's how that's worked over the years.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yes, yeah, so most sometimes people do need the help.
The information sounds great until you try.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
We have that people take all of our blog posts.
In fact, they've written us and they've taken pictures of
a big binder that they've taken all of our blog
posts and they said, we've read all your blog posts.
We've been able to create our own MIDI major gift
program and it's succeeding. We never paid you a dime
for that, but we just wanted you to know how
(14:23):
successful we've been with all the advice you've given. And
we love that, yes, love it.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yes, because at the end of the day, it's all
about helping people to succeed and profits are definitely needed
because they help people most of the time that are disadvantaged.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yeah, that's right, you.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Know, so they are a very important piece of our society.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
That's right. They're trying to make the world a better place.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yes, absolutely, absolutely. So let's go ahead and talk a
little bit about your podcasts.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Okay, yeah, I have a podcast we have. It's called
Real Talk with Real Fundraisers for real fundraisers, and what
I do is kind of what you're doing.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
I interview really cool people who have a lot of
knowledge about fundraising and we just have conversations. And before
this podcast, I had a podcast with my former business
partner for many years called Nothing But Major Gifts, and
(15:34):
we kind of did something similar. It was a little
bit more scripted, but it was all about helping teach
or learn about major gifts and so we had a
number of guests on that were experts in different aspects
of major gifts. So we have all of those still
out there for people to listen to.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Ah.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, so let me ask you, when do you know
only broadcast on this podcast?
Speaker 4 (16:03):
We usually publish every couple of weeks or so a
new podcast. Okay, Yeah, and we you know, we put
it out on We have quite a over the years,
you know, because we built this blog. We have over
forty five thousand people who have subscribed to something of
ours and so you know we have about regular about
(16:23):
ten thousand subscribers to the podcast and blog and you know,
we get it out that way social media and LinkedIn
in different ways so they can find it.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Okay, okay, So you also co authored two fundraising books.
That's right, a little bit about that.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah. Very early on in twenty fourteen, we did our
first book called It's Not Just About the Money, and
that really helped solidify in the market that we were
the experts on major gifts. You know, when you write
a book about something, people like, oh, you must know
something about this, right, And it was great because conferences
(17:08):
started calling us saying, hey, would you be a speaker
because you've written this book. And so we really started
to take off because people started reading this book and
reading our blog posts and we no longer had to
try to find business. Business came to us because we
gave out that free content. Right. So that was our
(17:32):
first book, and then twenty twenty we did a follow
up to that, It's Not Just about the donor, which
was focused towards executives and managers that they're crucial to
helping major gifts work in a nonprofit and so it
was kind of a guide for leaders and managers in
(17:56):
how to lead major gift teams.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Sometimes they get so focused on the money that they
get all about this as a relationship you're building.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
That's right. You know, it's like, oh, we'll hire a
major gift officer and all our problems will be solved. No,
you've got a lot of work to do besides just
hiring someone. You know, you got to support that person.
You have to have the infrastructure within your organization to
report back on the impact of those donors' gifts. You
(18:32):
have to be able to thank them properly. All those
things have to be considered because we know that donors
stop giving to organizations when they don't know if their
gift made an impact or not. That's the number one
reasons donors leave. Yes, and so if you don't have
that figured out, I don't care how great of a
major gift officer you have, you're not going to continue
(18:54):
to retain those donors.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yes, people want to see where the money is going. Yeah,
shown the.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Proof they want to know and I make it an
impact or not.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yes. Now, let me ask you. A lot of times
in the donor world, it's usually old, older people that.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
The major donors. Yes, for majority of major donors are
I would say fifty five and above and most of
them are sixty five and above because they have disposable income.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yes, Now, how do we keep it moving with the
younger people? What A?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
What A?
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Because I think you know, with them, it's a it's
a tougher game for the it's a long game.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
Yes, you know, you usually bring in a donor. Donors
start being more charitable when they hit their thirties, and
then when they hit their forties. You know, but they're
giving smaller gifts and that's okay, But you have to
cultivate them well too, you know, through your fundraising programs,
(20:01):
and as you develop that relationship with them over time,
they'll start giving larger gifts. And that's when you really
should start introducing them one to one with people, you know,
really start reaching out to them as individuals rather than
just mass communications.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yes, yes, because I think that's just so so important.
It all businesses. Yeah, it's communication And what's your thoughts
on the AI in communicating.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
I think, you know, we're kind of in the beginning
stages of it for a lot of organizations using it.
But I think that AI can be helpful in kind
of crafting drafts of either fundraising letters or call scripts
or how should I talk to my donor? And a
lot of that depends on how good your prompts are
(21:00):
for AI, But you know, I think it can be helpful.
I do think you have to heavily edit those and
make them personal, but I think if you're stuck as
a writer, they can be helpful. They'll give you some prompts.
But AI in the future is going to be very
(21:21):
helpful by looking at a database and being able to
help you craft Okay, what donor should be in my portfolio?
What donor? How can I helping AI? AI can help
you create a strategic plan, So there's ways to make
the job that takes a lot of time. Building a
(21:41):
strategic plan, building revenue goals, all of those things take time,
and AI could do that a lot quicker. You still
have to check all of that, of course, but it
would it would really help the fundraiser in many ways.
Do a lot of that planning and much quicker.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yes, and does your company use uh AI.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
We we don't use it. We help We consult with
organizations that they should look at other companies that do
provide that or within their database. We're all about the
one to one stuff we are. We're about coaching individuals, yes,
but we are pro AI as well. Because anything that
(22:30):
can help the major gift officer have more time to
spend in front of donors, We're all for it.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yes, yes, yes, indeed, yes, indeed because I think you know,
in terms of planning, like you said, planning scripts, you know,
focusing down on you know, people, you know, just being strategic,
it can definitely help you as an individual move forward
(22:58):
a lot quicker. Yes, with a client, yeah for sure.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Wow, So you did some I saw in your BAIA
that you work with Feeding America. Yeah, yeah, I love
that organization.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yeah. They're an amazing organization who has had some great
leadership over the years from a number of different CEOs
that all have been very forward thinking and how to
build that organization in another life. Before Veritis I started,
(23:40):
I worked with them on their direct response program and
at the time in twenty two thousand and one, they
had only fifty thousand donors and some national organization and
they brought in about nine million dollars in total revenue.
Today they have they have half a million donors and
(24:01):
over five hundred thousand dollars in total revenue or five
hundred million. I'm sorry, Wow, it's just taken off. But
it was because twenty four years ago their leadership said
we need to invest in building in bringing in more
donors and letting them know what is happening here, and
(24:21):
so they did that investment and they've just taken off.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yes, because I remember seeing the shows they used to
have on television, Yeah, showing what when they're doing their campaign,
showing what money go. This is what you did, This
is what we do. This is how we serve with
your dollars. Yes, and that's to me the most important thing.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
YEP.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Show people how you spending the money.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Yeah. Absolutely, And a lot.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Of organizations do it that way. I mean, say Jews,
they normally have their fund rate and it's like, you know,
they're showing the hospitals, they're showing the.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
They're showing the need.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Ye.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
People want to give to solve a problem. Yes, donors
want to solve problems, So you show them the problem
and then once they've given you show them how they
made an impact with those gifts to alleviate the problem.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Yes, exactly, and it makes sense. Yeah, I mean, it's
just like going to the store and buying.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Something exactly, you receive something that's right, You've got it,
you nailed it.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yes, indeed. So again, how can nonprofits connect with you?
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Go to our website at verdisgroup dot com and there's
all kinds of connections that you can make there. And
what we love to do is start out with a
free donor assessment. So that data thing that I told
you about, we do that for free. And the reason
we do that for free is because we know for
(26:07):
a fact that it'll be the first time that a
nonprofit sees their data in the way that we're going
to show them. It'll be enlightening. But then the other
reason is that, of course it allows us to get
in front of them and say, here's what your donors
are doing, here's areas of opportunity, here's where you could
be in the next five years, and here's how Veritus
(26:28):
could help you do that.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
You know, yeah, yes, indeed, Wow, Jeff, this has been enlightening,
and you know, nonprofits actually need you right now, especially now.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
Well, this is why we're seeing so many come on
board this year is because they realize we've really got
to figure out this thing with individual donors. Either they've
been relying on corporate gifts or direct response, they really
have to now start looking at their donors as people
(27:05):
and start reaching out to them and talking with them
and understanding what are our donors passions and interests so
that we know how to bring offers to them that
are going to inspire them.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Absolutely, absolutely, and I'm looking forward to following you. So
one more time, how do nonprofits connect with you?
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Go to veritisgroup dot com and you'll see all kinds
of ways to connect with us there.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Okay, now are you on LinkedIn?
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Oh yeah, we're on LinkedIn everywhere all.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Right, So I'll definitely connect with you there because I
do know some nonprofits. I've worked for a nonprofit for
like sixteen years, wow, and I kind of know when
those campaigns come through. Yeah, they're doing the mailers, they
do the house stuff, the events.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Yeah, but it's like.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
They might need help. We're from acting perspective.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Yes, yes, well that'd be great.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Okay, and thank you so much for taking time out
of your schedule to share. Yeah, and it was definitely
eye opening to say the least. And audience, thank you
as well for tuning in. We appreciate you. Also, thank
you to our guests and you our values audience. Let's
(28:35):
stop you by. We truly appreciate you. Many blessings to
you and yours
Welcome to Just Minded My Business Media LLC, where you
get information that you can use.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm your host, Ida Crawford. But before we dive in,
subscribe to Just Minding my Business on YouTube and wherever
you get your podcasts shape just Minded my Business with
your family, friends, and pile leaders. Engage with us by
leaving a review or comment. Your support keeps this podcast
(00:33):
going and growing. Visit our website at JMMB mediac dot
com to learn how we can support you and get
more visibility on your products and services. So grab a
center paper and get ready for information that you can use.
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Unlock the power of social media and let your brand
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Speaker 1 (01:46):
Welcome to just mind in my Business Media. I'm happy
that you joined us today and I am so happy
to welcome to the platform today. Jeff Shrifles who has
over thirty two years of experience in nonprofit fundraising. In
his role as principal and owner of Veritis Group, he
(02:09):
has worked extensively with nonprofit leaders and fundraisers to help
them create transformational donor relationships. Welcome, Welcome gifts.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Hi Aida, Great to be on the show with you.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Great to be on with you as well. So let's
define what this all means.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Okay, you want to know what major gift fundraising is?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, yeah, exact.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Well, it's different by different organizations what a major gift is. So,
if you're a small organization, a major gift could be
somebody who could give two hundred and fifty dollars or
more in a year, and a larger organization could like
a university, could say a major gift is fifty thousand
(03:00):
dollars or one hundred thousand dollars or more is what
they would call a major gift. But generally, generally organizations
call a major gift anyone that gives probably ten thousand
or more in a single year and above, and then
donors who get between one thousand and ten thousand is
(03:21):
what you would call a mid level donor. So this
is kind of internal discuss you speak for or nonprofits?
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Okay, yes, I've worked for a nonprofit for over sixteen years. Yeah,
those fundraisers and you know, donor things, I get it.
I just wanted to make sure my audience got yeah, yeah, sure.
But anyway, what does Veridis group do in terms of
(03:50):
overseeing the data? Okay, it comes in for nonprofits.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
So we always we never start working with a client
until we their donor data. And typically what we ask
for is we want to know any donor that's given
one thousand dollars cumulative in any one of the last
four or five years, because we want to understand how
donors have been behaving over time that could potentially qualify
(04:18):
as a major gift donor or mid level donor, and
that data set helps us understand donor attrition or donor retention,
you know, how many donors are you keeping every year
and donor value attrition, meaning a donor might give let's
say ten thousand one year and the next year they
give five thousand. That means we lost five thousand dollars
(04:42):
in value year over year, or fifty percent of their value.
We want to be able to track that and show
that to the organization, and then we're able to look
for areas of opportunity for growth. And then we put
together a five year forecast that if you had a
really good robe by mid and major gift program, here's
where you could be in the next five years. But
(05:04):
we could only do that by first looking at the data.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
And so what nonprofits do you work with?
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Gosh, we work with small organizations like local food banks
and food pantries, rescue missions, but we also work with
large international organizations like Doctors Without Borders, you know, Greenpeace.
We've worked with large and small. We work with other
(05:39):
organizations like Saint Jude Children's Hospital, you know. So those
are some organism We've worked with organizations who might be
like five million in total revenue and organizations that are
two billion in total revenue.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Oh okay, okay, so you are definitely out there. Yeah,
different levels of nonprofits that you work with, and that's
right now. With the climate that's happening in our country today,
we cannot not talk about that. Yeah, how what is
going on with the non profit sectors.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Well, obviously they're scared a bit. They've lost a lot
of nonprofits have lost funding because a lot of them
were dependent or had government funding that helped do what
they did. And so many nonprofits are starting to rethink
(06:38):
where our other revenue streams can come from to help
us keep us going. And where we're finding is many
of them are finally deciding that we need to go
out to individual donors and start building relationships with them
(06:58):
so that we can start at that revenue stream. And
so for us at Veritas, we've had a record sales
year of new clients that have come on because many
of them realize we've got to start building a donor
base and start asking donors for gifts because we can't
rely on other sources that we used to rely on.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yes, yes, and I think even though it's a negative
climate right now, but at the same time, you can
find some positivities out of this mess.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Absolutely absolutely. I'll tell you a story. So we work
with a lot of public media clients NPR and PBS stations,
and you know all their funding went away. Yes, right,
it was a huge impact. And depending on the station,
each station has been impacted in some way. And so
(07:54):
they're realizing we really need to go out to our
individual donors more than we ever have before, and we're
seeing donors respond to that. So all of our clients
in public media, the major gift side has grown by
double digits year over year because you know, people are
stepping up to the plate. You know, they love NPR,
(08:18):
they love their PBS station. We want to see it continue,
and they know that with that government funding away, they're
going to have to make up the difference.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And it might be a good thing because you know
that old saying, God bless the child and has his own.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, I know, I hear you, I hear you.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, it's much more truer than ever now.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
So when when you when a nonprofit like say comes
to you, yes, I know you talked about you know,
looking at their data now in terms of strategies in
order for them to gain more donors, how does your
company address that issue?
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Well, what we usually find is that major or nonprofits
feel like they don't have enough major donors, but in reality,
they do they have do they have major donors in
their donor file, They just haven't cultivated them correctly. So
what we do first and with that data is identify
(09:25):
potential major donors or current major donors, and then we
help them develop a plan to qualify those donors. Meaning say,
your major gift threshold is five thousand and above, and
we find a bunch of donors that've given that we
wouldn't say yet, we wouldn't put them in a major
(09:45):
gift portfolio for a major gift officer until we've had
contact with them in some way that they show us
the donor that they really want a relationship with the
organization with that major gift of yes, I want you
to come and talk to me, or I want to
find out information and I want to know what's going
(10:07):
on in your organization in a deeper manner. Once they're qualified,
then we put them in a portfolio. We tier those
donors based on the best donors to the lowest level
donors no more than one hundred and fifty qualified donors.
We put a revenue goal towards every donor and a
strategic plan so that the major gift officer knows exactly
(10:29):
what they're doing every day with that portfolio. And what
we find is that they do have plenty of donors
and major donors, they just have never cultivated them correctly.
And so we're not so much about going out and
finding new donors or major gifts, because that really should
(10:51):
be done on a lower level scale, like you know,
your direct response meaning the mail or email or those
ways of developing that list of donors that initial but
when you move them up through and that's why we
love to have mid level as a program because that's
where you're introducing those donors that are giving just below
(11:11):
that major gift level for the first time somebody to
talk to from that organization, and that changes the relationship
and we see these mid level donors start giving major
gifts because they're finally been reached out to by an individual.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yes, nothing like talking to folks.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
That's what it's all about. It's about building relationships with donors.
The whole goal for a major gift officer is to
figure out what are the passions and interests of the donor.
Why do they have those passions and interests? As it
relates to everything that nonprofit does with their projects and
program and then matching those up. And when you do that, well,
(11:54):
that's when donors give. Because fundraising really isn't about money
at all. It's about building relationships so that you can
understand what the donor really wants to do with their resources.
And when you do that, well, when you gain the
donor's trust and you present them with inspiring offers, they're
(12:17):
more apt to give. The money follows, Yes, better the relationship,
then the money follows.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Absolutely, and you support nonprofits and that strategy.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
That's right, we go, we help. Right now, we're consulting
with over sixty nonprofits around the world on just that.
We're working directly with their frontline fundraisers every day to
help them be successful.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yes, and that's what they need now because unfortunately, you know,
they've got spoiled so to speak, and now they have
the work for it.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So if nonprofits who want to connect with you, how
do they do so?
Speaker 4 (13:04):
They usually come to our website at verdisgroup dot com,
or they attend a free webinar, or they've read one
of our free white papers. What we decided very early
on at the creation of Verdas was that we were
going to give away everything we knew. So my business
(13:24):
partner and I at the time started a blog and said,
this is how you're supposed to do this, have it
for free. And we did white papers. We have over
twenty five white papers. We do podcasts, we do free webinars,
all to give really good information out to people, and
some of them will come back to us and say, hey,
(13:47):
we love this, but we need your help to do that.
And so that's how that's worked over the years.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yes, yeah, so most sometimes people do need the help.
The information sounds great until you try.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
We have that people take all of our blog posts.
In fact, they've written us and they've taken pictures of
a big binder that they've taken all of our blog
posts and they said, we've read all your blog posts.
We've been able to create our own MIDI major gift
program and it's succeeding. We never paid you a dime
for that, but we just wanted you to know how
(14:23):
successful we've been with all the advice you've given. And
we love that, yes, love it.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yes, because at the end of the day, it's all
about helping people to succeed and profits are definitely needed
because they help people most of the time that are disadvantaged.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yeah, that's right, you.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Know, so they are a very important piece of our society.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
That's right. They're trying to make the world a better place.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yes, absolutely, absolutely. So let's go ahead and talk a
little bit about your podcasts.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Okay, yeah, I have a podcast we have. It's called
Real Talk with Real Fundraisers for real fundraisers, and what
I do is kind of what you're doing.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
I interview really cool people who have a lot of
knowledge about fundraising and we just have conversations. And before
this podcast, I had a podcast with my former business
partner for many years called Nothing But Major Gifts, and
(15:34):
we kind of did something similar. It was a little
bit more scripted, but it was all about helping teach
or learn about major gifts and so we had a
number of guests on that were experts in different aspects
of major gifts. So we have all of those still
out there for people to listen to.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Ah.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, so let me ask you, when do you know
only broadcast on this podcast?
Speaker 4 (16:03):
We usually publish every couple of weeks or so a
new podcast. Okay, Yeah, and we you know, we put
it out on We have quite a over the years,
you know, because we built this blog. We have over
forty five thousand people who have subscribed to something of
ours and so you know we have about regular about
(16:23):
ten thousand subscribers to the podcast and blog and you know,
we get it out that way social media and LinkedIn
in different ways so they can find it.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Okay, okay, So you also co authored two fundraising books.
That's right, a little bit about that.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah. Very early on in twenty fourteen, we did our
first book called It's Not Just About the Money, and
that really helped solidify in the market that we were
the experts on major gifts. You know, when you write
a book about something, people like, oh, you must know
something about this, right, And it was great because conferences
(17:08):
started calling us saying, hey, would you be a speaker
because you've written this book. And so we really started
to take off because people started reading this book and
reading our blog posts and we no longer had to
try to find business. Business came to us because we
gave out that free content. Right. So that was our
(17:32):
first book, and then twenty twenty we did a follow
up to that, It's Not Just about the donor, which
was focused towards executives and managers that they're crucial to
helping major gifts work in a nonprofit and so it
was kind of a guide for leaders and managers in
(17:56):
how to lead major gift teams.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Sometimes they get so focused on the money that they
get all about this as a relationship you're building.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
That's right. You know, it's like, oh, we'll hire a
major gift officer and all our problems will be solved. No,
you've got a lot of work to do besides just
hiring someone. You know, you got to support that person.
You have to have the infrastructure within your organization to
report back on the impact of those donors' gifts. You
(18:32):
have to be able to thank them properly. All those
things have to be considered because we know that donors
stop giving to organizations when they don't know if their
gift made an impact or not. That's the number one
reasons donors leave. Yes, and so if you don't have
that figured out, I don't care how great of a
major gift officer you have, you're not going to continue
(18:54):
to retain those donors.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yes, people want to see where the money is going. Yeah,
shown the.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Proof they want to know and I make it an
impact or not.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yes. Now, let me ask you. A lot of times
in the donor world, it's usually old, older people that.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
The major donors. Yes, for majority of major donors are
I would say fifty five and above and most of
them are sixty five and above because they have disposable income.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yes, Now, how do we keep it moving with the
younger people? What A?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
What A?
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Because I think you know, with them, it's a it's
a tougher game for the it's a long game.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
Yes, you know, you usually bring in a donor. Donors
start being more charitable when they hit their thirties, and
then when they hit their forties. You know, but they're
giving smaller gifts and that's okay, But you have to
cultivate them well too, you know, through your fundraising programs,
(20:01):
and as you develop that relationship with them over time,
they'll start giving larger gifts. And that's when you really
should start introducing them one to one with people, you know,
really start reaching out to them as individuals rather than
just mass communications.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yes, yes, because I think that's just so so important.
It all businesses. Yeah, it's communication And what's your thoughts
on the AI in communicating.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
I think, you know, we're kind of in the beginning
stages of it for a lot of organizations using it.
But I think that AI can be helpful in kind
of crafting drafts of either fundraising letters or call scripts
or how should I talk to my donor? And a
lot of that depends on how good your prompts are
(21:00):
for AI, But you know, I think it can be helpful.
I do think you have to heavily edit those and
make them personal, but I think if you're stuck as
a writer, they can be helpful. They'll give you some prompts.
But AI in the future is going to be very
(21:21):
helpful by looking at a database and being able to
help you craft Okay, what donor should be in my portfolio?
What donor? How can I helping AI? AI can help
you create a strategic plan, So there's ways to make
the job that takes a lot of time. Building a
(21:41):
strategic plan, building revenue goals, all of those things take time,
and AI could do that a lot quicker. You still
have to check all of that, of course, but it
would it would really help the fundraiser in many ways.
Do a lot of that planning and much quicker.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yes, and does your company use uh AI.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
We we don't use it. We help We consult with
organizations that they should look at other companies that do
provide that or within their database. We're all about the
one to one stuff we are. We're about coaching individuals, yes,
but we are pro AI as well. Because anything that
(22:30):
can help the major gift officer have more time to
spend in front of donors, We're all for it.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yes, yes, yes, indeed, yes, indeed because I think you know,
in terms of planning, like you said, planning scripts, you know,
focusing down on you know, people, you know, just being strategic,
it can definitely help you as an individual move forward
(22:58):
a lot quicker. Yes, with a client, yeah for sure.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Wow, So you did some I saw in your BAIA
that you work with Feeding America. Yeah, yeah, I love
that organization.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yeah. They're an amazing organization who has had some great
leadership over the years from a number of different CEOs
that all have been very forward thinking and how to
build that organization in another life. Before Veritis I started,
(23:40):
I worked with them on their direct response program and
at the time in twenty two thousand and one, they
had only fifty thousand donors and some national organization and
they brought in about nine million dollars in total revenue.
Today they have they have half a million donors and
(24:01):
over five hundred thousand dollars in total revenue or five
hundred million. I'm sorry, Wow, it's just taken off. But
it was because twenty four years ago their leadership said
we need to invest in building in bringing in more
donors and letting them know what is happening here, and
(24:21):
so they did that investment and they've just taken off.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yes, because I remember seeing the shows they used to
have on television, Yeah, showing what when they're doing their campaign,
showing what money go. This is what you did, This
is what we do. This is how we serve with
your dollars. Yes, and that's to me the most important thing.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
YEP.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Show people how you spending the money.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Yeah. Absolutely, And a lot.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Of organizations do it that way. I mean, say Jews,
they normally have their fund rate and it's like, you know,
they're showing the hospitals, they're showing the.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
They're showing the need.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Ye.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
People want to give to solve a problem. Yes, donors
want to solve problems, So you show them the problem
and then once they've given you show them how they
made an impact with those gifts to alleviate the problem.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Yes, exactly, and it makes sense. Yeah, I mean, it's
just like going to the store and buying.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Something exactly, you receive something that's right, You've got it,
you nailed it.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yes, indeed. So again, how can nonprofits connect with you?
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Go to our website at verdisgroup dot com and there's
all kinds of connections that you can make there. And
what we love to do is start out with a
free donor assessment. So that data thing that I told
you about, we do that for free. And the reason
we do that for free is because we know for
(26:07):
a fact that it'll be the first time that a
nonprofit sees their data in the way that we're going
to show them. It'll be enlightening. But then the other
reason is that, of course it allows us to get
in front of them and say, here's what your donors
are doing, here's areas of opportunity, here's where you could
be in the next five years, and here's how Veritus
(26:28):
could help you do that.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
You know, yeah, yes, indeed, Wow, Jeff, this has been enlightening,
and you know, nonprofits actually need you right now, especially now.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
Well, this is why we're seeing so many come on
board this year is because they realize we've really got
to figure out this thing with individual donors. Either they've
been relying on corporate gifts or direct response, they really
have to now start looking at their donors as people
(27:05):
and start reaching out to them and talking with them
and understanding what are our donors passions and interests so
that we know how to bring offers to them that
are going to inspire them.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Absolutely, absolutely, and I'm looking forward to following you. So
one more time, how do nonprofits connect with you?
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Go to veritisgroup dot com and you'll see all kinds
of ways to connect with us there.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Okay, now are you on LinkedIn?
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Oh yeah, we're on LinkedIn everywhere all.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Right, So I'll definitely connect with you there because I
do know some nonprofits. I've worked for a nonprofit for
like sixteen years, wow, and I kind of know when
those campaigns come through. Yeah, they're doing the mailers, they
do the house stuff, the events.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Yeah, but it's like.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
They might need help. We're from acting perspective.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Yes, yes, well that'd be great.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Okay, and thank you so much for taking time out
of your schedule to share. Yeah, and it was definitely
eye opening to say the least. And audience, thank you
as well for tuning in. We appreciate you. Also, thank
you to our guests and you our values audience. Let's
(28:35):
stop you by. We truly appreciate you. Many blessings to
you and yours
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