About the instructor
About the Instructor
Hi everybody! I’m Jessica Cloud, your instructor for All-Star Annual Giving. We will be spending a lot of time together over these next 3 months, so I thought I’d introduce myself.
As far as fundraising credentials go. I have over 20 years of fundraising experience and I’ve been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 2013. I currently serve as the Vice President for Advancement at Starr King School for the Ministry as my day job. I earned my Master of Arts degree from The University of Southern Mississippi in English literature.
But, all that stuff aside, I want to tell you a story. It’s a fun one involving whip cream pie.
I came back to work for my alma mater, The University of Southern Mississippi, early in 2011. I was hired to rejuvenate their annual giving programs. After a brief orientation period, I spent a lot of time analyzing the alumni base and any historic data I could rustle up and then I ran projections to determine what I thought I could raise for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.
When I took these numbers to our VP for Advancement, a man we lovingly called Grumpy Cat (long story I’m sure I’ll tell in another lesson) asked me for my numbers. I slid the paper across the table to him. He slid it back to me and said, “I’m going to give you a chance to revise that. It’s 3 times as much as they’ve ever raised in annual giving before. I want you to be successful. Just take the highest year before and add 10%.”
I raised an eyebrow and slid it back to him saying, “Those are my low-end projections.”
He issued an ironic chuckle and said, “If you hit these numbers, I’ll let you put a pie in my face in front of the whole staff at the end of the year.”
I said, “I’m gonna need that in writing in front of witnesses.”
So, at the next staff meeting, that’s exactly what we did, and that contract hung in my office all year long. I implemented every plan I had in my roster and watch the numbers over that year. The gift processing staff was overwhelmed but I checked in with them routinely, found ways to make their jobs easier, brought them cupcakes, and formed strong relationships.
We implemented a faculty-staff giving campaign and in 3 months took our giving percentage from 11% to 32%.
As we approached the June date for our faculty-staff campaign wrap-up party, I hit my projected numbers for dollars raised. I got to put that pie in my VP’s face not just in front of the advancement staff but also a representative group from across campus. It was glorious.
That first year, we increased the total dollars raised by over 300%, and in three years we increased the number of first-time donors by 285%. During my tenure at USM, the total number of yearly donors to the USM Foundation increased from about 3,000 to over 8,000.
Let me tell you a secret: there’s a lot of mystique around major gift fundraising but it’s all smoke and mirrors. I’ve done both and annual giving is much harder to do well. If you want to grow your career into major gift fundraising, I will show a path to do that in this course. But, don’t discount the unique mix of art and science that goes into an amazing annual giving program. It’s that unique mix of case-building, writing, graphics, data, analysis, and innovation that makes it my favorite kind of fundraising.
Another thing I discovered while I worked for USM was that I love to teach fundraising techniques and to write about fundraising. I started routinely hosting conferences, giving presentations, conducting training webinars and I even published a book on phonathon scripting with Academic Impressions.
So, in 2016 I started Real Deal Fundraising, where I post to my blog weekly on Thursdays. Connecting with other fantastic fundraising practitioners keeps me on top of my game at my day job and feeds my inner teacher. There’s nothing better than seeing someone’s face light up when they get a new idea from something you’ve said. Except maybe when you get a note about how much money they raised when they implemented that idea!
I encourage you to check out my bio on my website, and the testimonials that are available there. You can find all the resources to sign up for my weekly emails and connect with me on social media. If you have phonathon in your list of responsibilities, I also recommend you check out my phonathon scripting book from Academic Impressions.
We will get to know each other pretty well over these next few months. I can’t wait to see how we grow together. I’m glad you’re here.
Resources
https://www.realdealfundraising.com/about.html
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