Behind the scenes of the Fractional Fundraiser Academy with Maria and Katy
“I find that fluidity is where I find joy and where I am my most productive. And by fluidity, I mean some days, I might be at my desk from eight till six. And other days, I might be at my desk from 10 till noon. “ - Katy Pedersen
Behind the scenes of the Fractional Fundraiser Academy with Maria and Katy
In this episode, we're taking you behind the scenes with Maria and Katy, members of the Fractional Fundraiser Academy. Listen in as they share their journeys, reveal how they've overcome entrepreneurial challenges, achieved freedom and flexibility, and discuss the invaluable support they've found within the Academy. Get ready to be inspired and learn how you, too, can thrive in the world of fractional fundraising!
Highlights:
1. What fractional fundraising is and how it benefits nonprofits and fundraisers
2. How fractional fundraising has transformed Maria and Katy's lives personally and professionally
3. Challenges of being your own boss and how to overcome them
4. The value of fractional fundraising community
5. Advice for those who want to become fractional fundraisers
If you are interested to be a Fractional Fundraiser, apply for the Fractional Fundraising Academy now at thegoodpartnership.com/ffa
Find Us Online: https://www.confessionswithjessandcindy.com/
Connect with Cindy:
Cindy Wagman Coaching https://cindywagman.com/
The Good Partnership https://www.thegoodpartnership.com/
Connect with Jess:
Out In the Boons: https://www.outintheboons.me/
Transcript:
00:00:00 Cindy: Welcome to the Confessions podcast. I'm Cindy Wagman.
00:00:03 Jess: And I'm Jess Campbell, where two former in house nonprofit pros turn coaches and consultants to purpose driven organizations.
00:00:11 Cindy: After years of building up our separate six figure businesses from scratch, we've thrown a lot of spaghetti at the wall and have lived to see what sticks.
00:00:20 Jess: We're on a mission to help other nonprofit coaches and consultants looking to start or scale their own businesses past the six figure mark by pulling back the curtain.
00:00:30 Cindy: Whether you're still working inside a nonprofit and thinking of one day going out on your own or you've been running your consulting business for years, you understand that working with nonprofits is just different. We're giving you access to the business leaders who serve nonprofits as their clients. You know, the people who truly get it.
00:00:52 Jess: No more gatekeeping, no more secrets. This podcast is going to give you an inside look at what running a successful nonprofit coaching and consulting business looks like. Basically, we're asking people how much money they make, how they get paid, and what has and hasn't worked in their businesses.
00:01:11 Cindy: Listen in as these leaders share their insights, their numbers, and the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to building a nonprofit coaching or consulting business. We're going to empower you to make the power moves that give you the income and freedom you set out to create from day one.
00:01:28 Jess: You ready? Let's go.
00:01:32 Jess: We have a very special episode today featuring multiple guests, which we don't do a lot. And today what we're going to be featuring is a few fractional fundraisers, which, if you are new to that term, I'm going to let Cindy, in a second, give you a definition. But I want to welcome both Maria and Katy to Confessions with Jess and Cindy. I hope you're ready to be transparent, open book because that's what we are all about. And you are the perfect guest, as you are less than two years, both of you, in your business. Okay, so, Cindy, let's kick us off. What do you define a fractional fundraiser as?
00:02:22 Cindy: So, fractional fundraising is just a fundraising take on this idea of a fractional executive. So the idea is you are hiring a very experienced person for a fraction of their time, therefore a fraction of the cost. So it helps. It's very common in small businesses, when we've set it up to help small charities, where you are able to access much more sophisticated, experienced, strategic support, but they still act like they're in house, and so you still get the day to day implementation. So, yeah, fractional fundraisers basically are helping organizations with their fundraising function from strategy to implementation with a fraction of their time at a fraction of the cost.
00:03:14 Jess: And so I'm curious, maybe we'll start with you, Maria. How did you get introduced to this concept of fractional fundraising?
00:03:23 Maria: Yeah, so I actually met Cindy a few years ago. She interviewed me for a role at the time at an organization that she was supporting. And she said to me, “Hey, if you don't get this job, come work with me.” And ever since, she's been in my peripheral view, and I've just seen how many amazing things she's been able to accomplish over the years and how much she shares with the community. So that was really inspiring. And when I recently bumped into her at AFP again, it was something that was brought up again. And I was like, “Okay, I think I'm ready. Let's go.” So it's something that I've noticed for a few years, and I've seen the way Cindy does it, and I'm really excited to have joined.
00:04:07 Jess: Amazing. And how about you, Katy? I know you've been at this for a bit longer.
00:04:12 Katy: Yeah. So I'm one of Cindy's original, I don't know if guinea pig is the right word, but original testers of this concept of fractional fundraising. And I was job searching, and I saw Cindy's post on LinkedIn that she was looking for some people to join her on mission to do some things differently and to experiment with this model. And I thought, “Oh, that sounds neat.” And we have some mutual acquaintances. So I got in touch with her, and it's all been up and up since then. I was looking to do something entirely different and make a big change in my career. So this really fit the bill.
00:04:51 Jess: Okay. Amazing. I mean, as I'm thinking back to when I even started as a fundraiser, I guess what technically I was doing was fractional fundraising. I think the key difference and something that Cindy really coaches people on is to not do what I did, which is charge $40 an hour, 40. Yes, I basically chopped up my previous salary. I didn't add in, benefits. I didn't add in paid time off. And so here I was working 11:00 at night. I had a new baby at home. I was like, “Yeah, I'm living that entrepreneurial dream, not, doing all the things.” And so I know just from knowing a little bit about Cindy's program, that's not what she does. And so can you walk us through how you were able to make fractional fundraising work for your lifestyle and how many organizations you work with at one time? Does that vary? Give us an inside look as to what that really looks like in practice.
00:06:02 Maria: Yeah. So I'm quite new to fractional fundraising, but I recently left my role as the director of development and communications, and I was getting paid well. I was making 96,000 Canadian, which is good for our sector. But now that I've been able to more than make up my revenue and then some through fractional fundraising without any of this additional stress about internal politics and all the little things you're talking about, like going on vacation, “Oh, is my vacation going to be approved. All these stressors that are coming outside of the actual fundraising, the constant burnout that people put you through. So, yeah, right now, I've started two months ago, and I'm already more than my income, which is great. And I've already started expanding my team because three clients is, around a full time job. Right now, I have five. So it's me and person supporting me with some grant writing. And I'm also going to be bringing someone on to help me with some of the other implementation stuff.
00:07:08 Jess: That's exciting. We're going to get into all that in a sec. But, Katy, let's talk to you. You said that you were currently not working. You saw this opportunity. It was like, “Oh, my gosh, this is the right fit.” But I'm guessing Cindy didn't tell you to charge $40 an hour, otherwise you would have gone and kept looking for a job.
00:07:26 Katy: Right. She did not tell me that I would be charging $40 an hour. So I was working for a larger organization and I was making $74,000 a year. I'd taken a bit of a pay cut to go to that organization because I really believed in the mission and what I was going to be learning while I was there. $74,000 is nothing to sneeze at. That is good money. I had benefits. Commute was great. Things were good. But with this model, the way that we do it within the network is we charge a flat monthly retainer. We can decide whether or not we want to assign specific hours against that and say, “Okay, this amount of money equals this amount of hours per month.” I personally don't because I find that fluidity is where I find joy and where I am my most productive. And by fluidity, I mean some days, I might be at my desk from eight till six. And other days, I might be at my desk from 10 till noon. And because I have other things that in my life with my kids or that I need to take care of, it really ebbs and flows and the workflow ebbs and flows as well. Sometimes some clients will have a lot going on, particularly toward the end of the year or when you're running an appeal or a major campaign. So we charge $4,000 a month plus HST per person. So that is where I start when I'm having a conversation with the new client. This is what you get. This is what I charge. And you get. Yes, you could say that it boils down to a third of my time every month, but really it's going to ebb and flow depending on where we are in their calendar and what the work demands.
00:09:11 Jess: Okay, just before Maria, I ask you the same question. I'm curious. What makes up that third of your time? Are you coming in and you're like a one stop shop for these organizations, or are you like, “No, I'm pretty much the grant writer.” Does that vary client to client, or just what does that work worth $4,000 a month actually look like?
00:09:34 Katy: It varies by client. The first thing that I do with my peeps is write that fundraising plan, and that usually takes the first two to three months. And I tell them, while I'm writing this plan, the only thing that I'm doing is writing your plan. Because while I'm writing your plan, these are the things that I'm doing. I'm talking to your donors. I'm meeting with your board and with your staff. I'm creating a deep understanding of your programs and what you do and who it works for and why. And then out of that, I am creating a strategy that we will work on together to co create something that will deliver the results that you're looking for over the remaining nine months of the contract. So I work on your contracts at a time, or 18 month contracts at a time. So that first two and three months is that there might be some stewardship stuff for the odd grant in that period of time, but that first two to three months is really about writing that strategy. And then the implementation for the following nine is whatever is set forward in that strategy. I have one client right now who's exploring corporate engagement and corporate volunteering, which is wicked. I have another one that is mostly grants based. And my third client is primarily appeals and major gifts. So there's a little bit of everything with everybody and which suits me because I like things to be fluid.
00:10:54 Jess: Super helpful. That's really descriptive. Okay, Maria, question back to you, which was, what was the question?
00:11:03 Cindy: What do you do?
00:11:04 Jess: How do you spend your time filling in what the client is paying you?
00:11:10 Maria: Yeah, I think you don't really understand how much of your time is spent in internal meetings and internal politics when you're at an organization. So now imagine all that time was freed up and you could actually spend it on fundraising. It just makes your job so much easier. So, yeah, similarly to Katy, what I do is I go in. I do a really in depth environmental scan to make sure that I deeply understand the capacity of the organization, the values, what they've done in the past, where they want to go, and create a fundraising plan around that and then focus on the implementation of that as well. So currently, I'm doing a full fundraising plan for most of my clients, but I'm also partnering with two consultants in the states who are asking me to support them with grant writing because that's a really big piece right now. So it could be a little bit of everything. That's the beauty of the fractional fundraising academy is that you're a generalist who is getting to really support an organization.
00:12:16 Cindy: I'm going to start with Katy because she's been doing this longer. So Maria, you might not be able to answer this quite yet. What has changed for you in your life as a result of doing this, of being your own boss and making the money you make and having the control you have? What has that done for you personally?
00:12:38 Katy: Well, one of those things literally just walked in my door. We're recording this at around 3:15 on a Wednesday, and my sixth grade son just came home from school by his own self. He's fixing himself a snack, and we're going to get homework underway in a minute. So I think part of what Maria spoke to earlier really resonates for me. Like, imagine if you didn't have to spend time in all of those meetings that could have been an email or not happen at all. Imagine if that got freed up. And imagine if all of the nonsense, back and forth, office politics stuff just became a lot smaller. It doesn't go away completely. But imagine if it just became a lot smaller in the course of your day. And if you could actually use all of the time that you have during your working hours, what would you be able to accomplish? And for me, ever since I became a parent, almost 12 years ago now, I wanted to be home after school because I want my kids to have the experience of being independent and walking home from school. I want to be able to walk the dog during the day. I want to be able to call my widowed mother and see how she's doing during the course of the day.
00:13:50 Katy: Even last month, one of my children was hospitalized briefly for about three days after an asthma attack. And had I been working at a large shop during that time, even though I'm sure they would have been very compassionate about what I was experiencing, I would have had to use vacation time. I would have had to use personal days. And being at the Michael Garron, sitting in the room with the heat that doesn't turn off, with your kid on an oxygen mask and a heart monitor struggling for air, is no vacation. That is not a vacation. And it's just like, that's the corporate lowdown. That's how that is. People are going to be very understanding and make room for you, but still, somebody's got to get that moved around the schedule, right? Even though I'm, I me, myself and I, working from my clients, I didn't feel like I was letting anyone down. So I just got in touch with them and I was like, “Listen, I'm here, but I'm moving meetings until the end of the week. Hopefully we'll be out by then. This is in good shape. This is in good shape. This is a bit of a mess, but I'm going to deal with it, and I'll see you when I see you.” And people were just so much more because I have more control over my time. I was able to just take what I needed and then get back to it when I was ready. And I didn't have to look at my vacation allotment to wonder how three days in a hospital with my child was going to impact my ability to take a break.
00:15:20 Cindy: Thank you for sharing that. I know it was a hard time, and one of the things that I value so much from this community is, in fact, the community. So, Maria, knowing that you are still, newbie in fractional fundraising, two months in, tell me a little bit about your experience moving from in house to consultant as part of a framework and community. And is this something that people can reverse engineer, or is this really just what makes it valuable to you?
00:15:57 Maria: Definitely think anybody could figure out how to do consulting on their own, but something that was really valuable to me was this felt like a business in a box. Like, here you go. Here are all the things that I had challenges with. Here are all the roadblocks that I face, and they're already figured out. All you have to do is follow these steps. So that was something that took a lot of the anxiety and the overwhelming feelings and got rid of them, which was great. But another thing that I love about this model is that I get to meet so many amazing women, business owners, who are doing really cool stuff and who are really pushing themselves and the sector because it's something that they believe in and it's something they want to achieve. And it's not sacrificing your health for someone else or permission or any other thing.
00:16:57 Cindy: Awesome. Thank you. We're also joined by Katy's dog, which is a little.
00:17:01 Katy: So distracting and so cute.
00:17:03 Cindy: So cute.
00:17:04 Katy: She's a lover.
00:17:05 Cindy: So cute. A lot of people have heard us talk about Jess's dog on the podcast as well. I would say your dogs are about the same size. They're both very large dogs and very.
00:17:17 Katy: Irritable. 80 pounds of dirt.
00:17:20 Jess: Bully's got your dog by 30 pounds. Yours is deceiving because of all the fluff, though. Mine doesn't have that. Okay, I want to back up and just go back tactical a bit because I know everyone here is listening, and they're like, “Oh, my gosh, this is amazing.” They have freedom of time. They're not wasting hours at the water cooler. They get to do projects they're excited about. But you have to get those clients. And so I'm curious, Maria, you've been at this two months. Katy, you've been at this 18 months. Where in the world are these clients coming from, and how are you getting them?
00:17:59 Katy: Honest to God, I met two clients at the dog park. I swear, I was just talking to people about what I'm doing, and it was back last fall. And I was like, “Hey, so I'm doing this now.” And they're like, “Oh, that's really interesting. I volunteer with an organization that's looking for somebody like that right now.” So that was how I got one of my clients, was just talking to the people in my world who are already doing good things, so just sharing with people who I know. And then Cindy has built up an incredible brand and an incredible respect in the industry. So she often has people who are coming to her looking for help. So she will pass those on within the network. But for me, a lot of it was, it was people that I already knew talking to my friends, or talking to even acquaintances, kids, other parents at pickup. I know it sounds corny, but talking to people I know about something that I'm excited about and that I care about, and that a service that I was providing has generated a ton of business for me over the last year. And I would not say that I know a lot of people who work in nonprofit or charity in my social life, but, be surprised at how many people know somebody who is looking for this kind of help.
00:19:20 Jess: I love that so much. How about you, Maria? You're new at this and you mentioned you already have five clients, which is a lot. So where are they coming from ? How are you finding them?
00:19:31 Maria: Yeah, just to add a tiny bit of a clarification, so those are five year long contracts, but I also have these little speaking gigs and little projects. So there's additional work. How I'm connecting with people is through my professional network. So I've been really involved in the nonprofit community in Toronto for a while. But over the past year and a half, I feel like with my push for community centric fundraising, people have really noticed that and wanted to partner with me. So that's one way. Another way is Google Ads. It has been very helpful in getting people to my website since I have really good connections in Toronto. But Google Ads has been helping me get connections from across Canada and in the states. So that's been really great. And yeah, referrals from other consultants and from Cindy are also really helpful.
00:20:26 Jess: Yeah, that's what I think is so brilliant about this model, is that you do these 12 month contracts, right? So you're not needing to be on the hamster wheel of new business all the time. And I think it's super smart, right, Maria, that you're like speaking and you're all these places and you're top of mind. But even what you were saying, Katy, about being at the dog park, when you say fractional fundraiser, people understand what the word fractional means and it's just really easy to place, right? Like, “Oh, I know a nonprofit that needs a fundraiser, but maybe they can't afford a full time one.” So this is such a nice shoe in, right? And so it allows people's brains to focus really easily and place you as a solution, as a helpful thing. So I think that that's so super smart. I want to maybe talk just confession and maybe what is something that has been unexpected or maybe challenging or something you were like, “Oh, I didn't know it was going to be like this, but here we are.”
00:21:33 Katy: I think that working this way has magnified for me all of the best feedback that I've ever had on my performance and all of the constructive feedback that I've ever had on my performance when I was working in a corporate environment. So I did not expect to find myself revisiting my old journals or old memories or old plans for myself that I had made to tackle certain, really practical aspects of the work. And so I was not expecting to have that magnified as strongly as it has in the last year and a half. And what that's afforded me is this incredible, like, I work best under pressure and that pressure to deliver. I think I've done some of my best work over the last year and a half and I think that I've done things that I would never imagine myself doing, things that weren't on my resume before, that I have figured out, learned how to do this dang, good job doing it.
00:22:42 Katy: So it has magnified both that scrappiness that I've always had as a fundraising professional and that creativity as well as, frankly, since it's confessions sometimes, believe it or not, I get overwhelmed like a human. And when I'm overwhelmed like a human, I don't always make the best decisions with my time or I overthink things. And I've really done a lot of work on myself over the last year to tackle that as somebody who is now doesn't have the external pressures of the corporate environment to contend with. Those pressures do also force you to look at yourself a certain way or to do things a certain way. So without those, I've had to create them internally, which is what I should do all along, but it just happens so much faster than I might have anticipated it.
00:23:27 Jess: Thank you. Maria, how about you?
00:23:30 Maria: For me, I think one of the biggest surprises is, and this is going to be so naive, I'm so sorry, but it's basically how much time it actually takes to run your own business. I thought I was going to be only fundraising and that's it, basically. But doing all the accounting of it myself has been quite a learning curve. And the prospecting and the marketing and all these things, all things that you have the skills to do as a fundraising generalist. So it's great. But the budgeting, I don't know. I don't know, if people listening, you are as bad with numbers, even though you're a fundraiser as I am, but you just have to figure out all those specific personal taxes and the GST and HST and billing people the taxes from where they're living, not where you're living. So that surprised me a bit, but it's a learning curve. It's still new to me.
00:24:27 Jess: Right there with you, Maria.
00:24:29 Maria: We just recorded.
00:24:31 Jess: We just recorded with Cindy's bookkeeper, and you'll hear all about.
00:24:36 Cindy: Two more episodes down the road from this one airing. We have my bookkeeper on Jane and you're talking budgeting and all of that.
00:24:45 Katy: Oh, my God.
00:24:47 Jess: You are not alone. See, I'm with my people now, Cindy. My people.
00:24:53 Cindy: Yeah.
00:24:55 Maria: What time do I reach out to an accountant? But I can't. I need to figure this out because I need to understand the numbers. That's so critical.
00:25:02 Cindy: You're going to listen to Jane and some of the updated content, I think , also is there, because Maria joined right before we updated. Fun story, I wasn't going to enroll anyone else into this program, the Fractional Fundraiser Academy, which is what it's now called until this launch that we're in the middle of right now. But I had so many people asking for help, like so many organizations, and our network was full. Everyone was fully booked. And I said to Maria, “I am not ready, but because I know you and I think you're stellar, would you join? And we'll take this risk together.” Not everything's in place. It's been piecemeal. And Katy joined very early on when things were very piecemeal, but Maria came right at the cusp of us growing and formalizing a lot of what we do. And I was like, “Do you trust me?” She agreed. But we just had so many organizations who were looking for help that I felt so bad turning them down. And I trusted Maria so much to be able to come in, in a time of ambiguity, which I think is, well, for both of us, but now there's lawnmower structure around those things.
00:26:31 Katy: Cindy, the community that you created, we do help each other out a lot, even though we're all working in our own offices, sometimes in different time zones in different parts of the world. That Slack channel is hopping, and there is advice and help and a listening year at any time, whether it is, how do I charge this? Where does this go on the tax return, to what do I do with this section of this grant application? I don't know what they're looking for. Has anybody written this one? Do you have any advice to share on how to fill it in? And chances are, I mean, there's, what, 10, 11 of us now? Yeah, 10, 11 people. Somebody in there has experienced what you've experienced and can give you some really good, pointed advice about how to proceed.
00:27:24 Cindy: All right, everyone, we're back for another round of rapid fire questions. This time with both Maria and Katy. We get double the trouble. Are you two ready to play?
00:27:34 Maria: Yeah.
00:27:35 Katy: Ready.
00:27:36 Cindy: As someone that I'm guessing works from home most days of the week. What's your go-to at home lunch?
00:27:45 Katy: Okay, I'll go, big salad and at least three types of protein. So usually like yes, three types. So what we do is we do some lentils, which I prepare at the beginning of the week with a big batch. We've got lots of good spice and flavor in there. Then I will scrounge for something crunchy, so like a nut or some chickpeas, and then I grill up some halloumi and put it on the top. And really, the other two are basically just a basis for the halloumi, to be honest.
00:28:14 Maria: I like to do really easy lunches, so it'll be like either a salad kit or a falafel kit, or it's just like crackers and cheese. Can't be bothered.
00:28:23 Jess: I'm a crackers and cheese probably too many days a week.
00:28:27 Maria: Oh, my goodness. Crackers and cheese.
00:28:31 Katy: Yes, you can. Do it for yourself. You do what you want.
00:28:35 Jess: What would you say is the best book podcast tool that you use to support your budding businesses?
00:28:47 Katy: Calendly all the way. Calendly, my one true love. I send it to people. I say, “This is my Calendly. You can book time.” And they go, “Oh, my God, what is this tool?” And I'm like, “It's Calendly.” So what it does is just shows my availability. So if I have days when I really want to write or I have something else going on, I just block it out on my Google calendar. It automatically syncs, and it only ever shows the availability that I have.
00:29:11 Jess: And I love it.
00:29:13 Maria: For me, it's definitely notion. So I have the free plan, but it's incredible. So I'll have internal facing things, but I can also set up databases, so some of it is external facing to that specific client. So they each get their own personal hubs where they can see all of their documents, all of their billing, all of the notes that have done over the engagement, client logins, or Swan analysis of work plan. So it's been a lifesaver.
00:29:48 Jess: Amazing. Awesome. Thank you for playing. What I love about hearing both of Katy's business and Maria, your business, is it seems like you both are running very successful businesses, but like your vibe, your style. So, for example, what I'm hearing is, Maria, you're maybe a little bit more up for or comfortable with being super external facing. You're on the social channels. You're out there networking. You're doing speaking gigs. And I don't know, Katy, maybe you are doing that stuff too, and you haven't spoken about it. You're more like head down, doing the work, and you're good with your three clients, and that's groovy. And I think that that's such a great thing about this model, is, like, if you don't want to be a marketing person, if that's not your jam, you don't really have to be, right? I mean, Katy, push back, if I'm getting it all wrong.
00:30:46 Katy: That's totally true. It's totally true. And it's something that I've been thinking about recently over the last few months. As I look at my two year anniversary of becoming a consultant in the fall, what is the next step? What is the next level for this particular game? And if I move into being a speaker or a thought leader in a space the way that Maria has, I want to do it the way that Maria does it. I want to do it because I have a really incredible gift to share. And Maria's gift is in Community Centric Fundraising and in the incredible way that she supports her organization. So if I'm going to do it, I want to be doing it there. Oh, she's blushing. I got her. So if I'm going to do it, I want to do it because I have something to add. And right now, I don't know that I have something to add in that space. I don't know that my voice is the one that needs to be filling the room. And anybody who knows me will know that that's ridiculous because I talk a lot, but I don't know that I have something that will be valuable to other people quite yet in that space. But it's not something I've written off. It's not where I'm at right now. I am just head down. I really like my days off now.
00:31:57 Cindy: That’s great.
00:31:59 Katy: I’m digging my days.
00:32:00 Cindy: I think that probably my estimation is that people don't get into the game out of fear that they have to show up that way. And your proof that you can have a booming, thriving business and not do all of that. Frankly, it's a lot of work. It can be fun work.
00:32:17 Katy: Yeah.
00:32:17 Jess: Don’t get me wrong. I love me, some marketing, but it can be a lot of work.
00:32:22 Cindy: And what I would say is the funny thing is there's a few people in our network. Katy’s one. Sandra is another, who were kind of like, “Okay, I'm going to have three clients.” Or Sandra was starting out with one client. She was like, “I don't want to do this full time.” And as they've been doing this, I would say anyone who joined early on, the more that they do this, the more they become known without actually doing any marketing. And so Katy has these people coming to her randomly. [Lourd], too. She's just like, somehow word gets out, and oftentimes clients will actually refer you to other clients, which I also think is pretty cool. But you get to be in control of what the business looks like, which is why, like I just had this conversation yesterday. I like to create things. I like change. I am suited to the kind of business that I've built for myself, which is I'm creating new things. I'm launching. But there are people who really want to just do good work. They know what they're doing. They love fundraising. I love fundraising, too, and I used to like this, by like, change too much. But it's just like you want to go in. You want to help organizations in a meaningful way and do good work and implement and see change. And you get to do that, or you get to say, “I want to do that.” But Sarah, oh, my
goodness, I always mispronounce her last name. [Hushley] is in our network, too, or Betty, who are both kind of like they've been consulting a little bit longer, and so they have one or two clients as a fractional model, but then they're working on growing other parts of their business. So there's such a broad range that I get a lot of joy seeing because I think that it helps people where they are, and it helps, as you suggest, with their personality, help them achieve their goals.
00:34:23 Jess: So I'm curious. I'm putting myself in the listeners’ shoes, right? I'm either an in house nonprofit fundraiser considering making the sleep, or maybe I'm a budding nonprofit consultant, but I'm really struggling to find clients and have that thriving business that we all aspire to. Or maybe I'm a fundraising consultant that's been added a while but needs to change the model. What do you say to them about this program that you've been through, guided by Cindy, or doing fractional fundraising? What do you say to them?
00:35:02 Maria: I think I would say different things to each one of those. For the in house fundraiser, it is very likely that you will consider leaving your job in the next two years. Like more than 50% of you have already thought about it so why not try this out? This kind of thing where fundraisers will leave their organization within 12 to 18 months, every single time looking for greener pastures. And there's a lot of issues in our sector, like unrealistic fundraising goals. Get Sam Smith to do a free concert for us. There's no budget for professional development to inept or megalomaniac EDs or board members. So I don't know if there's many organizations that can offer those greener pastures. I certainly haven't been part of them. So this is something that to me just made a lot of sense for my own mental and physical health, and it still allowed me to do something that I love to do. I love to support organizations who are doing good work and people that need help. So that's what I would say to an in house fundraiser. And to someone who is struggling to get clients or anything like that, contact Cindy. She has a long list of people who are looking for support. Set up your Google ads, set up some social media stuff, really at least let people know on your own personal LinkedIn that you're looking for one or two more clients. Because as Katy was saying earlier, you never know who's connected to what organization. So if someone's a board member or “Oh, hey, my cousin is the ED of this organization.” So just putting it out in the world can make a big difference. Yeah.
00:36:51 Katy: Somebody said to me many years ago that networking doesn't need to be in a large group of people. It can be one or two good conversations, and you can do it on your terms. And I always keep that in mind during times of transition. I don't need everybody. I just need one or two people. So have one or two conversations, reach out to one of us. We'll talk to you. I'll talk to you. I’ll talk to anybody. I'm a maritime well, I'll do whatever I want. Have a conversation with somebody who is already doing this work. If you're at AFP and you attend a session that you really enjoy and you feel like there's a connection with the speaker, just have one conversation. You don't need to press the flash with everybody in the freaking room. You just need one person or two people to talk to, to get that going, particularly if it intimidates you to put yourself out there or you feel like there's enormous risk because, my goodness, what if I fail? Everybody's got a rent to pay. Everybody's got a grocery bill. That's extraordinary. And most people have other things going on in their lives that they need to deal with. So the risk of not doing it and if you're considering doing it, I think the risk that you're not doing it is greater than the risk of actually taking the leap. Because when you work for a large shop, all those risks Maria outlined, those can come into play or something else can happen. Working for yourself, that degree of control and agency over your work, over your day, over what you produce, and over the change you make, is that much greater and that much more fulfilling.
00:38:30 Cindy: Oh, my goodness. I personally can't thank either of you enough for sharing your stories and your experiences with me, with our listeners. Yeah, thank you so much. And really to all of our listeners, if you are somewhat interested in learning more about fractional fundraising, maybe it's right for you or someone you know, go check out thegoodpartnership.com. In particular, I would hit up the podcast page, thegoodpartnership.com/pod, where we have a private podcast because we love podcasting, where we dive into all the details. You're going to hear from Maria on her own episode, from Katy on her own episode, where we deep dive into their experiences and many others, and we go into all the details of this program. So thegoodpartnership.com/pod. And again, Maria and Katy, thank you so much for being part of this.
00:39:35 Jess: And congratulations. I'm so pumped. You all have such thriving businesses.
It's amazing.
00:39:43 Cindy: Thank you again for listening to the Confessions podcast for nonprofit coaches and consultants. If you enjoyed today's episode, which I sure hope you did, you can show your support in one of three ways.
00:39:54 Jess: Number one, post a screenshot of this episode to your Instagram stories or LinkedIn profile and tag Cindy and I, so we can repost you.
00:40:02 Cindy: Number two, share this podcast with a fellow nonprofit coach or consultant.
00:40:07 Jess: And number three, leave a positive review on Apple podcasts, so we can continue to grow and reach new listeners.
00:40:13 Cindy: And, of course, make sure you subscribe so you can get the latest and greatest interviews as they drop every Thursday.
00:40:20 Jess: And to our fellow nonprofit coaching and consulting friends, remember, we're an open book book and here to answer your burning biz questions.
00:40:27 Cindy: See you next time.