Katie Mendez: Helping Nonprofits Thrive Through Strategic Fundraising

Tasha: [00:00:00] Good morning. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your nonprofit origin story?

Katie: Yes. Hi. So good to be here, Tasha. Thank you. Yes, I’m Katie Mendez and I was in house for almost 15 years before I went out on my own and I now have my own business built to raise where I do interim work.

Katie: I was an accidental fundraiser. Like so many, I actually. Was pulled into the industry. I started in a it was a performing arts center that was under construction in my hometown and I was an art major. It was sounded, Oh, I can do that. It was an administrative position. I knew somebody who worked there.

Katie: There were only three employees at the time started. And I was like, okay, this is fun. This is fun. And then they needed fundraising help. They had a director of. Marketing and communication, marketing, communications, and fundraising, all together. And I, and we know where that goes. So it shouldn’t, it’s no surprise now, but at the time I was like, okay, fine, whatever.

Katie: But then it was like, [00:01:00] she’s I need help. And I was like, I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know. I don’t think I can ask people for money. Well, of course, now we know that fundraising is not just about asking people for money, but I was like, okay, fine, I will give it a try. And so I switched.

Katie: to the other side. And just found that I actually loved it and was good at it because it was about relating to people and thinking about all the parts and communicating and making people and getting people involved and connected and all of those things that are fundraising. And even the backend stuff I loved.

Katie: I love thinking about the data and segmentation and. All those things. And so by the time I left as the director of development. And then moved on to other roles. But it was really kind of happenstance because I was an art major and really didn’t know what I was going to do.

Tasha: I love that. I love the different stories of how people get into the sector because it’s so varied, like I’ve heard stories where People that their generations of philanthropists, [00:02:00] right. And they’ve always been involved. And then also I’ve had one hive member, uh, this was how he started paying off parking tickets, uh, in San Francisco.

Tasha: Oh my God. Got him into nonprofit, like most hilarious, but beautiful story, right. Where it was like, and then he was just hooked. Once he was in and volunteering, he never looked back. Right. So I think it’s really special. What now built, raised. What does that look like? What kind of services and how long have you been doing that work?

Katie: Yeah, so I’m coming on almost two years. Since I went out on my own, I wasn’t starting doing interim work, but that’s really where my focus is now. So interim director of development support for organizations going through that leadership transition. So, and it’s typically for nonprofits that have two to four people on their fundraising team.

Katie: And they’ve. It’s actually, I found, it’s often messy as nonprofits are messy and that’s where it’s actually even more of a benefit for them. It doesn’t have to be [00:03:00] that it’s messy, but it tends to be that there are some maybe there haven’t been a lot of turnover in the office and so coming in and helping assess What’s happening here?

Katie: What needs to happen? Where can you go get some things in place so that the next person coming in can take off and run with it? Oftentimes too, it’s like an executive director who is so passionate about the cause, but maybe comes from the programmatic side. And in that transition of leadership, They can’t really step in and take over fundraising because they haven’t really done it.

Katie: There’s been somebody there and they’re not sure how to lead. And maybe the team isn’t ready to step into that role either. And so it’s really a good match for that. And yeah, I love being in the work with these teams. Like it’s sort of to me, that perfect balance of, uh, being able to operate my own business and work with who I want to work with and causes that I want to work with.

Katie: And also get to do the work. And, sit with team members and work through some of the stuff that they’re dealing with and help them think big about what [00:04:00] could happen with their organization. So it’s a lot of fun. It sounds amazing.

Katie: And what’s your favorite part of having been in this sector and the continued work you’re doing now?

I’ve always even when I left my last in house job and I was trying to think okay What do I want to do next? I really had a hard time moving out of the sector I think so many of us do once you’re in It’s like I think the fact that you’re pairing cause and amazing Community work with your day to day work, right?

Katie: It’s like this idea that You’re going to work and you’re seeing great things happen and your communities as a result of that feels so rewarding right on top of it. And so it was hard for me to think about stepping out into the for profit sector necessarily, because there’s. There’s still lots of great companies out there doing good things.

Katie: It’s just having been in this, you just, everybody says nonprofits are just different. They’re just different. It’s like you’re in this space and and the people are passionate, right? They’re [00:05:00] really driven. And I think to They just need more support. And I love that I’m now, after all these years of kind of working through and doing my own growth and learning and all that stuff, which I’m still doing, of course, but it’s like now after that 15, 20 years of being able to feel like I can be a partner for some organizations that really need that support.

Katie: And when somebody is like, Oh my gosh, this has been. So helpful or, like it’s, I just got chills when I said that, but like I had somebody the other day, like it said, I can’t, they’re in the process of hiring the next person. They’re like, I don’t know if they’re going to be as good as you Katie, but I hope they are, and it’s okay. But I’m glad that even in that middle, cause I don’t, they don’t get all my time, right. It’s just a little piece of my time, but we get in it together. Like we’re really in the weeds together. So we make these kind of. Deeper connections, which I love and I didn’t want to lose from that in house piece because I love connecting with board members and staff and on occasion the donors that’s not a big [00:06:00] part of what I do, but it’s that connection piece is just so genuine in this space because Everybody who I partner with is also so passionate about the cause they’re like in it and they want to see it succeed and to get to come alongside them and help them to go is still super rewa

Tasha: piece of this sector is s so great.

Tasha: Like just some

Tasha: what the work is and, they full on know that it’s going to be challenging and they’re like, yep, count me in. I’m ready. Step up, right? Like it’s so cool. It’s so cool. I love this part of it. And what about challenges? What do you see, especially you’re filling a really cool little, like this interim space.

Tasha: Yeah. I mean, it’s so much discussion about like directors of development and fundraising and turnover, what do you kind of see as some of those unique challenges in the roles you’re filling.

Katie: Yeah. I mean, [00:07:00] finding the right person for the job, I think I’ve been having some conversations lately about kind of the diversity of the sector and fundraising and, fundraising is there’s so many, when you say you’re a fundraiser, that can mean a gazillion different things, right?

Katie: Because the sector is so diverse, kind of like medicine or any of these other things. Right. But for some reason, and outside of our. Sector’s mind like fundraising. Oh, you just raised money. Well, I mean, we’re all a part of Raising resources for these causes we believe in but the work that we do is so different.

Katie: And so I think trying to help Organizations think about who’s the right fit for this role for your team because oftentimes it might not be what they’ve had in the past or what they think they might need. So some of the work we do too is trying to figure out, okay, well, here’s what, here’s who you actually need to hire.

Katie: And by the way, especially because in this interim role, like you need somebody who can think about all the parts. [00:08:00] Because in smaller shops like this, you can’t not think about how data is managed. Is if you’re leading it you’ve got to think about that while you’re also thinking about managing relationships and not everybody loves to do that And that’s okay.

Katie: It’s just about trying to get that right fit and help leaders understand who that right fit is absolutely So,

Tasha: and everyone seems like they’re looking, I’m sure you’ve seen the posts where, you know, one of our Hive members, Christina Martin Kenney has done some really cool posts, right, about her, she’s this is a ridiculous job description, no one person is going to have all of these, and if they are, if they, by chance you find them, they’re absolutely not accepting what this is.

Tasha: That’s not going to be a thing, so it is the challenge to, I think, find that right fit, but I think we also have to accept sometimes that maybe we shouldn’t be doing all of these totally right and that. Do you need more of a fundraiser that maybe has some abilities to do some [00:09:00] grants on the side?

Tasha: Or do you need a fundraiser who’s actually really like a specialist in also pulling in some like social media marketing strategy, but too often it’s like fundraiser encompasses.

Katie: Oh, yeah. All the things. Well, and I think that’s part of too, like, when I come in, I’m often seeing teams that are spread so thin.

Katie: And there’s a lot of event stuff happening that maybe is sucking them dry from their time and resources, right? And they, but they’ve been so tied to some of these practices that have brought them to this place. Serve them well or not, but I think that’s like Christina talks about it’s like You can’t have one person do all the things.

Katie: You can’t have a small team do all the things. Even once you get up to two, three, four, or more team members just in fundraising they still have to focus on certain things. And, not, we talk a lot about diversification. I don’t know if I should go there, but I remember, in my earlier [00:10:00] days, it was like, oh, you have to have all the funding streams, right?

Katie: And I remember, it’s not that long ago, in the last couple of years, actually, on LinkedIn, I remember reading this post that was like, you have to lean into to what you can do well with the resources you have. And so I take diversification with a little bit of a balance there because, yes, you can’t rely on just one funding stream, but also you don’t have to do them all.

Katie: Lean into individual giving and corporate partnerships or and granting or you know what I mean maybe you find two but sometimes I think that’s where There’s, you’re just spread too thin, because you’re trying to go in all these different directions and you need to kind of focus on some of this stuff, right?

Katie: To do it well, you gotta lean into it, and that can be hard for teams to make those choices when they’ve been doing the same thing for so long, or they have board members that expect them to do certain things, or, other leaders or partners on the team that have expectations. There’s just so much coming There’s a lot of noise all the time right about all this [00:11:00]

Tasha: and going deeper I don’t think is necessarily something that’s often talked about in non profit as there’s been so much for such a long time as go big.

Tasha: You need to talk to this many potential donors to get this many. I actually, as a marketer fundamentally disagree that there’s actually a really key part of finding really the people who want to be involved and who are deep and like, how do we go deeper with those individuals? How do we deepen that relationship?

Tasha: And that’s going to take more time and energy, which I know is. Probably part of why small teams go, well, we don’t have the capacity to do this, but maybe like you said, it’s dropping this particular event or, Oh, well, nevermind. We’re not going to have a fundraiser figure out how to do Google ads because that’s going to be a huge time sucked.

Tasha: And it’s not actually, we’re not seeing a return, right? Because that’s too big.

Katie: Yeah. 

Katie: This plays into the retention stuff that, you know. Honestly, oftentimes when I come into most folks don’t know what [00:12:00] their retention numbers are, right? Because you’re so busy doing all the things I’m talking, mostly individual giving retention.

Katie: I mean, you can definitely go into corporate and foundation and all of that. But yeah, when you go deeper, like for individual giving, that’s what you do. You see those numbers go up because you’re like, okay, we’re going to be really intentional about this donor experience. And it’s not, we’re just not going to be doing the spray and pray.

Katie: We’re not going to do just ask. We’re like, Thinking about, okay, well, let’s actually maybe change that big event into a, like a lower cost, but really meaningful. Thank you event because those actually tend to do better when you think about individual fundraising sometimes than these big events where people are just buying a ticket and you never see them again.

Katie: Right. So it’s like, how do you just convert your energy to some of these other things to go deeper? Like you said, and bring people, the right people closer because. Everyone is not your audience, right? It’s not you. I mean, you want it to be, it’s Oh, everybody, our cause is so great. Everybody’s well,

Tasha: and then there’s lots of [00:13:00] other great causes out there and this is for me.

Tasha: This is, this is my group and it’s not exclusionary. It’s more just it’s a little bit. Real, right? That’s the reality. And, uh, I love this. Okay. Peer support is always a question I come up against and or I come up and talk with people about, but how has peer support influenced your success both now as a small business owner, but also originally when you were in house?

Katie: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, so important. Right? I mean, in house, it’s okay, who are the other practitioners in my community? Going through AFP or some of these other networks, making ties because I learned on the job, like I really, I didn’t have great mentors because the person ahead of me kept leaving.

Katie: So I ended up taking the job eventually. Right. So I credit a lot of my learning over the years to just trial and error and like reading and talking to people and you know an occasional conference, but like Working in the community to learn with what other people were doing. But [00:14:00] now it’s it’s huge.

Katie: I mean, I’m, it’s, I’m a one person shop. So for me, the peer is also like just for my mental health, right? Like I need other people. It’s also learning for me, like from a business standpoint But the local community, I’ve really it’s been an interesting journey for me because I left higher ed and it was very insular.

Katie: There’s a lot of, once you have a huge team, like you kind of just become part of that team. And so we had moved to a new town and I had not spent a lot of time. We had COVID, I had young children. I was working on a huge shop. So I, when I left, I was like, Oh my gosh, I am so behind on my networking game here.

Katie: I’ve got to get to know people. And so that’s where in the last 12 to 18 months I’ve just really invested. And getting to know people and it’s been so lovely because now I’m like, Oh, I have my work friends, that are like my local, they’re consultants that are doing work for other nonprofits, but we get together for [00:15:00] lunch and we have our little group that does coffee and I, do my hive chats, of course.

Katie: And that’s been lovely to just like magically meet somebody new across the country or. Being showing up on LinkedIn, I get, DMS, I’m connecting with people and they’re like, well, let’s chat and I posted something recently about meeting somebody once a week and some weeks are like heavier than others, but I am like at least four to six new people every month that I am just meeting and some of them stick and we get together again or have a chat or whatever it is and it’s been so lovely to feel like there’s just This is your work, right?

Katie: Your community. But this is community. You feel like, okay, I have other people who I can go to and ask hard questions and learn from, and they’re not gatekeeping their secrets, they’re just like, no, this is what I did, or go talk to this person, or do that, or whatever. I mean, I think this non profit community is so generous.

Katie: They’re generous. of their time for their own causes, right? But then they become, even if they moved to [00:16:00] consultants or not, we’re all still in the sector of generosity where it’s we’re, we want other people to be successful, for the most part, right? We’re out there to help bolster each other.

Katie: And that feels really wonderful.

Tasha: I think it, it’s so unfortunate in so many ways that organizationally networking in nonprofit is just not really. I don’t know of many organizations that are like once a week, take a call with a brand new person that has nothing to do with finding a donor, right?

Tasha: That’s something different, right? That’s something different. And what’s actually crazy is. I would love if nonprofit organizations instead said to their staff, once a week, go find somebody you think is cool on LinkedIn that is doing amazing things, or like an organization that you admire also in the nonprofit space and find their marketing person.

Tasha: Talk to them. If you’re a marketer, talk to another marketer, right? It just, it’s so small and it’s such a small lift and that’s partly where the inspiration for [00:17:00] this started is I was constantly meeting new people because I would go on LinkedIn and go, this person’s amazing. I’m just going to say, hi, and that I was given that time and that space.

Tasha: And I see a lot of our Hive members who are joining, especially the ones that are in house. It’s not at the very rarely. Is it because they’re encouraged to do that? They’re just deciding they want to invest in that. Sadly, a lot of them. It’s because they’re either looking for a new work or they’ve been burned at a job and they’re keeping their eyes open and I wish they were coming just because their work was saying you should invest in meeting new people.

Tasha: But sadly, that’s not usually what I’m hearing in this sector, at least.

Katie: This is so true. I mean, if ever I was doing this, it was always at my own initiative, almost always. And like I said, when you’re in a big shop, they definitely are not, they want you to, they want you to connect internally, like across the apartments, because apartments are like their own sub organization sometimes.[00:18:00]

Katie: But you’re so right that it’s not culturally, that’s not a norm. And so I do often, I feel like sometimes I feel like a broken record, when I’m talking to people, I’m like, Well, you should go, talk to somebody else in this space, don’t wait until this gets to a place where you can’t be here anymore.

Katie: Like you have to get out and start talking to people. That are doing similar things that you were doing just to like, be friendly, be friendly and be a resource for them. And it’s yeah, there’s just so much benefit to doing this work, but you’re right. It’s not that’s of all of the many things that.

Katie: Our sector does a lot of things great, but we do, we have a lot of challenges. And add this one to the list. Add this one to the list. Add this to the challenges list.

Tasha: Okay, so the question I always love to end off with, and I don’t know the exact number of chats you’ve done, although I believe it’s more than 15 for sure, which is crazy.

Tasha: Uh, love it. What have you gotten out of being a Hive member?

Katie: Oh, what have I gotten? I just love meeting new people. I mean, this [00:19:00] feeds into this other, what we were just talking about, but the, I, the fact that it’s like a little present in your inbox, right? It’s here, your new pod chat is this week.

Katie: And this is this person I’m like, you go on LinkedIn, you find them. They’re like, Oh, this is so great. I have a couple of contacts that I’ve met through Hive. I just was messaging with one the other day that I think we got on a Hive. Maybe it was 12 or more months ago and we’ve just stayed in touch and we’ve messaged, and so I love that not every hide chat has been that way, right, where it becomes kind of somebody you stay connected to necessarily.

Katie: But I love that about the Hive and what that’s building for people and that it’s easy. I think that’s the gift you give to people when you, then they sign up for this, I actually, I have the hives booked out on my calendar for that same period for forever, right? And then I just know that it’s a marker on my calendar, and then depending on what’s happening that week, then I’ll be like, okay, can I take that call or not?

Katie: But it’s a placeholder on my calendar. And so I love that it’s, like, All I [00:20:00] have to do is click the button and be like, yes, I’m ready to connect with someone this week. I can do it. And you just do the matchmaking and that’s so cool. The lift is so easy and we know that people in this sector just don’t have a lot of bandwidth.

Katie: So the fact that you’re doing that for them is incredible. And I know you’ve had, I’ve watched, as your sponsorships have grown, but that people are out there sponsoring this because since it’s free, so lovely that that just shows the community rally too. So that’s. That’s been great.

Tasha: They’ve been, yeah. I feel very fortunate that others are looking at it and going, yeah, no, this is worth investing in. This is worth, this is something important. And I do think, just we’ve tried to make it like something you could trip over into, right? Oh, there’s a space in my calendar this week.

Tasha: I’m just going to sign up because it needed to be easy and it needed to be. A low lift, and if I left it to two people to figure out their own time, it would drop off, right? All of those things. It’s a busy world, but I don’t think [00:21:00] it’s that people don’t want to connect. It’s just, they’re not sure who to connect with, and then figuring out the logistics.

Tasha: So, it’s just one of those things. Yeah, you’re like here, sending it to you. Exactly, just a little gift for your week. Here you go. It Absolutely. So what’s the best way for people to connect with you, follow along, reach out after this, Katie?

Katie: Definitely LinkedIn. You can find me there. Send me a DM, connect, I’m happy to, learn about you and all the things they’re doing