Free Nonprofit Webinar! Boards & Asking Styles: A Roadmap to Success

Boards & Asking Styles: A Roadmap to Success

0:00

Then asking styles, I have been in the non-profit world and fundraising my entire life. As I'm telling you just a bit of background.

0:08

If you could type in where you are listening in from today, in your position, that would be great. Or you were the director of Development, the development staff, executive director of Board members. If you could type that in the chat box along with where you are, that would be wonderful. I love to get a sense of where everyone is at. I am sure if I asked you to hear grew up, saying, I want to be a fundraiser.

0:31

None of you would say, once in a while, someone says, yes, but most of us end up fundraising because want to help in some way. And then we realize this is the way to do it. So whether we're staff or volunteers, we're trying to find our way.

0:46

And for boards, in particular, it's even more challenging, because at least staff, we get more, we get some training, hopefully, we get more practice day-to-day and we really need to help our boards fund to fundraised, We need stronger boards, right back to if I have two books here but I actually have a third book called Engaged Boards Will Fundraise. And it's all about the fact that we have to understand the personality and unique set of strengths of our board. We have to help the airport be collegial, camaraderie for everyone to feel fair, make an impact, that they're in it together. All that stuff will inspire fundraising, And one of the ways is through the asking cells. So, I am Brian Saber, and I spent 25 years, the frontline fundraisers are still asking here and there. For gifts. I still find it challenging as a matter of fact. This is as much me as the picture you just saw no more the stereotype of a fundraiser than any of us are.

1:42

Never was what I, the thing I was most passionate about doing professionally, but I wanted to make an impact, and so I've done it. But I do still ask, goes out by asking, fascinating. I find board governance fascinating. I'm working with them a lot. And I'm sorry.

1:58

I'm hoping that today's webinar will help, and will give you some tools that will help you work more successfully with your board of directors, help them fundraise, and help them govern your organization, as well as possible. And I see we've got a great range of you today. We've got a bunch of executive directors from Ontario and Laura from Wisconsin, Susan for Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

2:22

Oh, my goodness, records borrowed from ages ago. Great! Katie is from ..., has just out their doings Director of Outreach. So wonderful range of development directors, executive directors, and other staff. I'm not sure if I'm seeing the board member, too yet, but I'm sure there are some odd welcome.

2:46

So today, we'll start with talking about these asking stuff that we developed at ASCII Matters, then, figuring out your board style, also how you make how different leadership is affected by the style. Our style might impact strategic planning and fundraising, and then I'll share two exercises to do with you. As Adrianna said, we have a huge crowd here today, so I can't answer every question, but I will look at the questions box and I'll try to answer a few before we finish today.

3:20

So, the asking solves what are they? Why did they come about?

3:24

Well, they came about because we realized that the fundraising, we're talking about, we're at, we're building relationships one-on-one, We're hoping to sit down face-to-face with people in person, with people, as we get back to that, hopefully around the country, but even now, a lot of zoom. And when we're trying, we're asking for gifts that way, we're really talking about relationships, very different than direct mail, crowdfunding, and such where there's, there's, there's a science to it now. There's such a method to it. But when we're talking about asking for gifts, that's part of a whole continuum of a relationship identifying, cultivating, qualifying, educating, you hear all these words all the time.

4:07

Probably involves thanking, recognizing, and we need to understand who we are, who our donors are, too, because we need to relate as we would in any relationship. So the question for us was, well, what would make up someone's asking style, how we're different askers be different?

4:28

So we thought, whoa, OK, what are the two top characteristics that might impact someone's asking style? The first not surprisingly, is how do you interact with people are you an extrovert or an introvert?

4:40

Now, the challenge here is that, people have a stereotype, they think an extrovert must be someone like, if you're from my generation, I'm almost 60 John Candy from planes, trains, and automobiles, or maybe, if you're younger, Michael Scott, from the office. And maybe, if you have another idea of someone, you know, a well-known character, you can type that in, and I'm always looking for other examples of an extrovert or an introvert. And for an introvert, Shrek, somebody's hermetically sealed, and never socialized as a neither of those is true. The differences where you derive your energy, whether from others or yourself, And that has to do some work with whether you talk to thinker thing to talk.

5:21

So extroverts think out loud you process out loud very confidently, and you're happy to throw out ideas and answer questions quickly as you're coming up with the ideas or the questions or the answers.

5:34

Whereas introverts want to stop and think, then it, just be it a second or NaN, But, but they need that time. Now, in a conversation, think of a Zoom meeting, all the Zoom meetings, we've had, where it's hard not to talk over each other, if an introvert, weights to jump in, someone else's going to jump in, So how would even thinking ... speed up the thought process to speak sooner? That takes a lot of energy. So you could be with your best friends and have a great time, but it's still going to take more energy for you as an introvert than if you're extroverted friends. So this impacts how we interact, start to finish with people, our comfort level in fund raising, our comfort level, Elizabeth board, sitting around a table, or these days, mostly on Zoom.

6:29

So very important characteristic for asking stops. The second is, how do you take in information a little easier to get analytic versus intuitive, to start with data and derive the idea? Or do you start with the idea and then see if the data supports it?

6:45

This is going to impact why you love your organization, why you came to this non-profit as opposed to some other first place, and how you're going to talk about a topic.

6:55

When we put these two together, we get the four styles Rainmaker go getter, Kindred Spirits Industry Controller. So I'm going to describe each one briefly at the end and then we'll launch a poll to see who's with us today. And the heads up that if no one fits cleanly and box, we all have a little bit of all of the characteristics I'm going to share with you, the question is, where's our sweet spot?

7:18

So, let's see which one sounds most like to start with Rademaker the Rainmakers the analytic extrovert. When people think fundraiser, they think rainmakers, they think of someone who's very objective, focused, driven, competitive, and goal-oriented. OK, I, I know we have to close five gives the $5000. I'm going to do that. It has, the goal has to be quantitative. So I know that I've reached it and I'm going to try and do the best. I want to be. The woman raises the most money, your closest, most gifts.

7:50

Those are great skills for fundraisers where we see a lot of pushback, Some rejections, we need to keep soldiering on. We need to raise as much money as we can.

8:00

Then we have our go-getters, the intuitive extroverts, big picture thinkers, and visionaries lots of energy, to get people really excited through their personalities, their creativity, and quickness on their feet. They make friends easily So they bring people along through their personal excitement.

8:18

Great skills for funds are not the same core skills as Rainmaker.

8:25

Kindred spirits, I'm a classic kindred spirit. I'm an intuitive introvert or feelings-oriented. We wear our hearts on your sleeves. Lots of things are personal for us. I struggled with that, my whole life, not to make everything personal. I have finally gotten them out!

8:42

And because I'm so sensitive, I tend to be sensitive to others. I wanna make sure that they feel that they've been heard. How can I help you? What can I get for you? Oh, let me do this for you. And to the extent that we do that, it helps us build relationships with donors who were good at caring for them, that, cultivating them not to say a Rainmaker Catch Be caring. Or a kindred spirit can be goal. Oriented we have a little bit, and then we have our mission controllers, the Eagle scout, who always get the job done.

9:12

The Analytic Introverts, Methodical, Systematic Plan, full, see the path, understand the steps we have to take will always get those steps completed because they feel a sense of responsibility and observe the most able to sit back and listen and observe. Which, as we know, is a great and important skill in fundraising.

9:36

The other way we look at the style is just through the core question. Each of us asks when we're trying to figure out well what's important to us what's going to move us, what's gonna make us act? So the Rainmaker says, well, what's the goal? It's in the future and it's quantifiable. I know when I've reached five gifts, $10000, whatever it is. The go getter. So what's the opportunity to go getters also looking in the future? But more broadly, what's the opportunity? What can we make happen?

10:04

The kindred spirit is saying well what moves my heart right? I'm going to go in the direction of a heat-seeking missile.

10:10

Well, I'm going to go the direction of what moves me, what I feel I did here. And the Mission Controller says, OK, fine, good, everyone. But what's the plan?

10:20

Without a plan, you can't reach your goal. Without a plan, you can't take advantage of the opportunity. Without a plan, It really doesn't matter what you're thinking, what's in your heart gets because there has to be doable.

10:30

So you can start to see, even now, where all the styles are very important on a board, and so forth.

10:36

So here are the four, and I'm gonna launch a poll, Enescu, too.

10:43

This isn't to say which do you think is your primary asking SA rainmaker analytic, extrovert, Go getter, intuitive, extrovert, kindred spirit into venture into the introvert, or mister Controller analytic Introvert, which one more than half of you already. Don't overthink it. You can always change your mind. And as a matter of fact, I'm going to give you a more scientific if you will, way to find your style of a set.

11:09

What's your gut rainmaker. Go get a kindred spirit or mission controller.

11:16

I'm going to give you three more seconds. Looks like we've got 70 plus percent. Come on, we can get that to 75%. 1 or 2 more responses. There we go, OK?

11:28

I'm going to close the poll and share the results.

11:32

There we are. So only 8% of you self-identified as Rainmaker, that classic stereotypical fundraiser. 32% go get a 43%, my fellow, Kindred spirits, 16% Michigan controller. So you can see that 75% of all of you today self-identified as intuitive.

11:52

And if the 9% of you as introverted with neither of which is that classic fundraiser.

12:00

And of course, that could mean only a certain percent of huge percentage of you could fundraise. But as you know, not true. We all can. We all have strengths. No one is strong in everything. We play to our strengths and relationships. We understand their challenges, and so understanding are asking style, and you'll see in a second understanding our nonprofit board fast itself is important to our success and building relationships, having a straw important. So for me, hide those results, and let's continue on.

12:40

one, Second's, something just changed here.

12:45

My screen does not show a narrative. I apologize.

12:49

Screening, seem to go blank, but I think we're OK. So, there is a more scientific way to find your asking installs. A matter of fact, we have a brand new site as of this week for it. It's called whiz dot ... dot com. There's a 30 question. True false quiz. It's, well, but the ASCII matters doc site to it takes three minutes or less to complete, and you will get a response with a primary and a secondary asking style, because no one fits cleanly in one box.

13:19

So, for instance, my primary kindred spirit and secondary's mission control. And so, the way I explain, well, first of all, I'm very much an introvert that people don't believe it because they see me presenting, and I let them know that lots of actors and presenters are introverts and D But, the way I explain is that I have no desire to be in control of things because I don't really want to be in the spotlight. But as a kindred spirit, I feel this deep obligation to make things happen if I know they can happen I want to help things happen and because I have the organizational skills of an admission controller, I often amassed or agreed to do something because I want to get it up. So that's sort of my asking.

14:05

So, and there are nuances to each of these, if your secondary's mission and control are relevant versus if your secondary is a go-getter. The key to take away here and the key in terms of your board members is that no one's necessarily more or less effective. We truly are all different, and we're bringing a certain skill set.

14:29

How did we apply those to the board?

14:32

Well, first of all, we, with the board, it has a personality.

14:36

So, I highly recommend asking everyone on the board to go take the assessment. I do a lot of board governance for nonprofit training all the time, all over the country. I train boards, and the first thing I do before I even get there, as I say, is you're everyone on your board.

14:51

Take the assessment so we can see what the board is, and why. But again, first of all, get some buy-in, of course. And people find it interesting to find them, to do these personality tests, if you will. But it really allows us to have a sense of where everyone is. So you can see this RM. GG means that means Rainmaker go-getter, GG RM next to Alice.

15:13

Means go-getter, rabid just the opposite so we can map how the airport and understand what its personnel is, yes, it only takes three minutes for every board member to do it. And then you have all this information.

15:27

And you can see here, that the Board seems pretty even between extroverts and introvert, but it seems a little more intuitive. Maybe more of the board is to the right, is over here.

15:39

Now, what happened except even to people are different, are in a different place. You can see now where the balance of your board is very different. You have a lot more, you know, you have more analytics and you have many more introverts. And the question is, well, what does that really? What does that mean for you?

15:59

Sometimes I come across board.

16:01

Alvin, sometimes I've come across boards that have a lot of people in, you know, one quadrant or another, and we can talk about that in a second. But how is that impacting your meetings?

16:13

Well, goes without saying, I think that will say that extroverts are more likely to talk in a situation where there are a lot of people.

16:24

It's a matter of fact, I can guarantee you that if I'm around a table with 20 or 30 other people in some sort of training or at a board meeting, I virtually never speak out And your introverts aren't going to speak out less.

16:40

So it's imperative that you, that you are aware of that your board chair is aware of that. Because you're an introverted board, members' perspectives are just as important as the extroverted. They're just not.

16:56

There's a forthcoming in sharing those in a large city. I mean, breaking the group down into smaller settings to make sure everyone's contract with America. When I train, I almost always break people into groups of three to make sure everyone in the group talks. Because if you have it by table or one big group, the extroverts, we'll talk more. The introverts might talk if you give them time, but remember the conversation's going back and forth. You have to say, if you want everyone's opinion, you have to say, Hey, we want everyone to answer this question, and one is the introverts time to answer the introvert.

17:33

So, very important to think about it, and it's really important today in our Zoom meetings, as provided, no kidding, type into the questions box, I asked this in one of the groups, and I moderate a LinkedIn group on boards. Are your board meetings now all in person? Are they still all virtual, or are they high bridges where you could do both, or are they some in person? And then some meetings are all. Key thing there, blended, hybrid. Allison says, in person grade, I hope that. Sticks. Julia, virtual moving in person. Hybrid, Kelly, all virtual. Yeah, we're still all over the place. They're trying to figure this out and keep everyone safe.

18:17

Haley's all in person, which is rate. Mary's zoom one in person a year, Susan, all, or Zoom. Katherine, all virtual.

18:26

So, we're for a long time. Well, I think the good news is, I don't think every single meeting has to be in person. And I think we will be able to use a board member's time more efficiently by using zoom.

18:38

Maybe for committee meetings and such, it will get more involvement, but Zoom has been even more difficult for introverts. Let's think of those zoom rooms we've been in.

18:49

I'm sure some of you, had anyone here been in more than a thousand Zoom meetings. I bet if you have to type that in.

18:57

I just can't even imagine.

18:58

But in those meetings, you know, you're trying, you're looking at everyone, and it's harder to read when someone's going to talk, right. You've got that lag, and it's not the same. You don't see the body language because you do in person. And what's happening is introverts are participating even less.

19:18

Talk it by talking, which means you, and I do this when I train. Now, if I train a group in Zoom, I'm constantly asking them to type it in because it's more likely that an introvert will type it.

19:34

For many reasons, the introvert, especially the mission control, is going to want to stop and think a lot and say something plan full, whereas the go-getter will be happy just typing something. As a matter of fact, I bet if I went back here, and we did the correlation between asking style of who's answering the questions first, that some of the first people to answer in my in that questions box, I'm looking at, will loop in the extra parts, in particular, the go-getters and that the people chiming in Laos will be the mission controllers.

20:06

But in some cases, they will have provided the most detailed answers, saying who we are.

20:12

So, so it's incumbent upon us to make sure, that everyone gets a voice in our meetings if we're going to build camaraderie if everyone's going to feel that part of the team. And remember, we can't get them to fundraise. If they don't feel the part of a team where everyone's in it, together where they are valued, you can't devalue someone.

20:36

But not hearing their opinion, or not involving them in conversation, and not expect them to feel that they're really vested and wanting to do the fundraising, you want them to do any sense.

20:50

So I'd love you to type in whether you think your board is pretty balanced, or if you think it means more towards one style or another graphic elko back two. So you can see that four styles again.

21:06

Where do you think your board is going to take a guess today? Type that in.

21:11

Chris is saying balance while you're doing it, let me share that this past summer, I did a retreat for an organization in the New York area that has slots programs for youth including accounts.

21:24

I think 85% of the board was Mission control, either mission controls the Rainmaker or Michigan Troller Kindred Spirit, and it was so interesting because they shared their strategic plan with me and the strategic plan was incredibly detailed. I'm going to talk about planning and second, but there were certain things I didn't see in the strategic plan. I think it's because the board was mostly Mission control. So Melissa saying mostly introverts with a few extraverts. Diane is saying more introverted.

21:56

Anyone else want to Klarman wants to chime in and let us see?

22:00

Katie says, We have a good number of both members who jumped in and discuss it, and those who we have to solicit answers from, particularly via Zoom rate.

22:10

So, understanding the styles, we'll help you run better board meetings, and help you engage board members better, The better we know them, the better we can support their work and make sure that they feel engaged and part of the team.

22:29

So, let's continue.

22:31

Let's go back now to, to our next point, which is leadership.

22:38

Every organization has a different leadership style, and that often is from the top-down leader, whether it's your board chair, and as in this case, we could be talking about a board chair or your executive director. Each leader based on their personality style has different strengths and different challenges.

22:56

So, one of the great things about Rainmakers is really, is your ability to keep everyone's eye on the prize, to always bring it back to, Well, let's not forget, our goal is to do this. Yes, we could go in that direction.

23:12

Yes, we could have that discussion, but let's not forget, what the price is.

23:20

The go-getter is the one who keeps the passion and the big picture alive.

23:26

Right?

23:26

So, it's also let's not forget, but it's different.

23:31

Right? Let's remember we can make an impact here.

23:34

Remember our vision for the future because let us not forget that the rainmakers and the go-getters are very much looking at the future.

23:44

The Kindred spirit is never forgotten who's being impacted.

23:48

You know, there's been such, there's been so much focus on outcomes measurement over the years, outcomes, measurement outcomes measurements, and, and you can forget, what the outcomes mention is that everything can be measured. And some things might be more expensive, but it's still worth it to do. How many of you had that issue with programs? I remember people, board, the board would one, know, How much is it costing us per person per program? And, this, and that, you don't, over the years, we've realized that you know, just because the program cost $5, a person doesn't make it a good program relative to $100 a person program. What are they getting out of it and what's most important to do?

24:28

And the kindred spirit will always remember what's most important to do.

24:34

Right? Let's not forget the seniors we're serving and what their needs are today.

24:40

And then mission Control is going to make sure things are doable OK? Well, if we're thinking that this could be a good program, I'd like some group to do some analysis of it and find out is it doable?

24:52

Well, you know, we've got a plan. This is our plan for the year, everyone. We agreed to this.

24:58

Plan for board involvement. Are we agreed to this plan for growth this year? And we really should stick with it. Let's not forget it. If we're going to veer from the plan, why, what does it do, and so forth?

25:10

So each leader is going to have strengths.

25:13

Then, and that's because each leader comes with this different path, whether it's about strategy, vision, our heart, or the planet.

25:24

And in fact, each person is also going to have a challenge.

25:26

So Rainmakers are not that big into the process. Of fact, I can always tell a Rainmaker, a donor, because we get we meet, and the donor pretty quickly says, Yeah, I know what to look. We know why you're here. Let's say I'm asking, I'm going to ask her yet. We know why you're here. Let's just get to the point.

25:48

Yeah, OK, we've had a few minutes process, we get it, let's make a decision.

25:52

And might need to let the process continue, especially if you want the board to have buy in. You want people to feel engaged, they need to have their voices heard. In the correct way. Go-getters can be unfocused. Right? There a go-getter Board Chair is the most likely to just let everyone talk about whatever they want to talk about.

26:12

You know, if someone else wants to say something, OK, and might have to say, No, no, The time is up. We need to move on or the go getter themselves could send the conversation in slightly different direction.

26:24

The Kindred spirit can be overly empathic, which could mean letting someone have the floor when they should not be maybe letting the board member stay even though the Board members isn't meeting any of the criteria.

26:37

You might have a board member who's not showing up to meetings and isn't doing this, and it could be very hard for a board chair to tell that Board member. Sorry. You're either going to need to fulfill your obligations or leave our board.

26:51

But can you imagine a kindred spirit doing that really hard?

26:55

Then your outer mission controllers? So, yes, you want to have a process, yes?

27:01

You want to keep on target, and so forth.

27:04

But there are times when you need to let some thing go in a direction you are considering. Today is Tuesday, right? So Sunday, I led adult strategic planning sessions for the charter school system.

27:18

And, and it's a very big point of inflection where the founder and leader is leaving. And there were, there's a lot on the plate. And I had to let that conversation veer off a couple of times.

27:33

And then, bring it back.

27:35

Right?

27:35

And I could do that as a kindred spirit because I knew the importance of making sure people were heard because it was such a sensitive time for the agency. And then the Michigan Troller helped bring me back on.

27:49

Didn't know if I was solidly in mission control Or I might have shut 1 or 2 of these conversations down.

27:55

So, knowing that, you also can figure out, well, what is it I can do to support my leader so that my leader can do a good job where my leader might be challenged. So a question for you.

28:08

Um, let's see.

28:14

Susan said we have one board member who is usually quiet throughout the meeting, and then when we are about to close asked several questions, so that could be an introvert. There could be other reasons for that as well. I'm not sure, but let me ask you this question. What do you think the asking style of your board chair is? What do you think the asking style of your board chair is if you had to choose one of these? Type that in the questions box?

28:42

Yeah?

28:43

What do you think of your board chair?

28:45

Barry, thanks Rainmaker.

28:47

Melissa Rainmaker Julia, go gather Katie Rainmaker mission control, or, Anna, go so far.

28:53

Most of you were mentioning the extroverted styles of Catherine Kindred, spirits who else what do you think the the the asking style of your board chair is?

29:08

Katie, my boss, is 100% kindred spirit. Yeah, you can answer for your executive director or CEO, your board chair. We're looking at this through the board blends. But actually one of the pieces, I don't think we talked about it here is, is the relationship between the executive director of the chair. So, I hope an exercise where I work with an exercise, the discussion, where I say, OK, Discuss that asking styles of those two leaders, Can you see how that impacts how they work together? Whether the strengths that come out of that, What are the challenges, how can we support those challenges? So, they are the strongest team that can be.

29:47

See who else?

29:48

Cindy said, she got Mission Control or Terry's got admission controller as well understanding that Brandy was implicit like you sort of got who they were but now you can see them in this framework relative to the other styles.

30:03

Here's another example.

30:04

Strategic planning I sort of hinted at this before: so this is one of the areas where a lack of diversity among the styles can really get you in trouble because you can end up with a plan that's all one or the other. It can have lots of vision, but there's no way to do it if you haven't figured out how to do it.

30:28

What's it about or if you've forgotten the people you're serving and now you're, you're sort of just reacting to funders, needs, or something, right? Because you know, the kindred spirit you could be off. If you have to make Michigan controllers as I've seen as I So this organization you could get into down into the plan, into the details too soon and not spend enough time up at the top on the big picture stuff that rainmakers and go get her spring because you want your plan to stretch. And the Rainmaker suddenly go-getters are more likely to stretch. There's certain confidence there, then the mission controllers and kindred spirits. So having a range of people.

31:08

having a range of people on a strategic planning committee, and I think on any committee, will give you the strongest committee and the best result, something to look at. And of course, this is all, this is all ideals, right? We only have so many board members, we can pick and choose. We don't have a thousand board members to choose from. We can say, OK, we have a quarter of 2024. We want 6 rainmakers 6. Go gather the, oh, sorry, we have too many Michigan controllers. We won't bring you on the report because your mission control.

31:36

Oh, by the way, what often happens is over time, boards can skew a certain way because we tend to relate best to people like us.

31:45

So, you have a couple of mission controllers in charge and they're more likely to hit it off with other rainmakers, who they interview to be board members.

31:56

or, you know, say for go-getters or any of the styles, So, sometimes we ended with an imbalance because we brought on people more like, like us, Katie saying her, her, EG and share opposite, which can be productive and bumpy.

32:12

This is true co-found did Ask the Merits and the asking ourselves with Andres skillset. Some of you may know her from her campaign worker, these days from her, a capital campaign toolkit work with AB Eisenstein. Well, she's a go get her husband, Tico as a district controller. And she said, it took developing the asking styles to realize exactly why. They could be so frustrated with each other at times, because they were so different in some ways. And it helped her appreciate that. And I do think understanding the styles helped to realize where someone's coming from, and not to think of them as getting in the way. Or taking the wind out of your cells are trying to be contrary, but rather bringing them more interesting, different perspective.

32:56

And the last piece here, very important, is fundraising.

32:59

What does that mean for fundraising? Well, the number one thing it actually means for fundraising is.

33:07

Board members, with different asking styles, are going to tell different types of stories. I do a lot of work teaching stories.

33:15

Matter of fact, I just did, an hour ago my numbers, and we were talking about the importance of vision and impact, talking in this big, in this big vocabulary, which actually is easiest for a go getter to do. We want our board members to talk in a way that's comfortable for them. Every board member should not be reciting an elevator pitch. The same thing, because the saying that, unless they're great actors, it's going to sound can. That's not going to sound authentic. We want our board members to create their own story. And the story is going to vary, depending on their asking style.

33:50

I, as a kindred spirit, will no more tell a goal story and use lots of outcomes measurements and such. Then a Rainmaker will tell a mission-driven participants' story or, or their own personal story of how the organization has impacted them. Or how they dealt with something that's similar to what the organization is trying to do.

34:14

Right. We're all going to tell different sort of, We have to in some way, in part with the vision, is for our world, and the impact we are making or trying to make. But we're going to tell that story in different ways.

34:26

So giving our board members a chance to, up to the number one thing we have to do if we want our board members to fundraise is to help them learn their story and feel comfortable with it. And we part of that is helping them embrace their own story. Not thinking, Oh, the executive director speaks so much better than I do, how could I ever do that? I can't do that, I, I don't know, all the facts and figures, I don't know, this, your board members don't have to. They simply need to be passionate. They need to be authentic, and what they say, and tell their own story from the asking stops.

35:01

The other way they can be helpful isn't figuring out how you might partner to fundraise or how your fundraising will go based on your partner.

35:10

So the ideal is, though, it can be challenging to K these points with her ED and chair, is for is to match with someone diagonally. So as a kindred spirit, my, my best matches or a maker, because then I've got the Analytic and I've got the extra work to the rainmakers The extrovert Can Open Meeting is probably more comfortable in the dialog. At least at the beginning.

35:33

And, and the Analytics, it's great, because I mostly intuitive, and, and if we have an analytic donor, so so you might use it to pay our people, but you also might use it because let's say you as a staff person, or a go-getter and the board member you want to take as a go-getter.

35:51

You're going to see somebody you think might be ambition controller and something that you can tell by what they do or how they interact with you, whether they use the phone or they like e-mail from past experience. You might know whether they're quiet or not. So what happens if you and your go get a Board member go to Seed Industry Controller?

36:12

Will, just, using this framework will help you lay out the meeting more productively and make sure that you are listening to your donor and giving a tie for your donor to speak, so the styles can be a roadmap that way.

36:32

So, the last piece here is just to, uh, two exercises, and then I'll take some questions.

36:39

So, it's not listed some really role play, but figure out who you might partner with, as I just pointed out before, take a guess at their style and then have a discussion. How did we compliment each other?

36:52

What might challenge people working together? If we were going out to cultivate someone if we're bringing someone here for a site visit, who might take various roles based on our asking styles, what might be more comfortable for us, and so forth.

37:07

And the second one is, is this giving people a chance to make their case bake bread baking?

37:13

Breaking people up into groups of three, having each person make their case in a minute, You know, what's so special about an organization, something like that, have a discussion about how you're asking style, impacted what you said, so it's reflective, and then maybe repeated to get more experience.

37:34

Before I take questions, usually we don't promote anything. I do a lot of premium webinars for charity, how-to, some of you may have taken one or another. But when we do freebies, they let me push a book. So, boards and asking the book that came out a year and a half ago now. I have a special if you want, if you go to ... dot com book special, I will personally subscribe to the book. I will ship it for free.

37:58

And I will include one of these nifty door hangers, which says, I have made fundraising calls, Please do not disturb. And, that's up. If you, if you want to purchase a book there, I'll send that out this week to you.

38:11

And that covers this material and a lot more material with depth, it talks about Rhodri, how to build a stronger team. How to recruit on board. All these things, given various styles, and I think you'd find it helpful.

38:25

So, before questions and announcement, you will, a survey will pop up as soon as we finish here from charity, how to it's anonymous.

38:34

but they do depend on that feedback so that they can continue to bring you great webinars and the things that you want to see from presenters you want to see.

38:44

And if you want to continue to interact with charity, how-to, you can on all the various social media and on their blog, where they have lots of great resources. And here's how to reach me. You can reach me at brian@askingstyles.com if you have a follow-up question, and you can go to our site. He says, There's a third one, So we've got asked the matters.

39:02

We have my own site where I do my consulting and such, and then there's the site for the quiz, and their role. And they're all inter-connected.

39:10

So, are there any questions we're just about, at our 45-minute mark?

39:15

But if there's a question, I will grabber before we end.

39:20

I haven't seen any, you've been great about typing in. I really appreciate that.

39:25

Thank you for participating throughout, since I'm not seeing any, I'm going to thank you all for being here.

39:31

And, most of all, I'm going to thank you for being fundraisers, being non-profit professionals.

39:37

Because this is not an easy job, I know, from my lifetime of doing it, but we really did make the world a better place, and it's such an honorable place up one second.

39:47

We have one from ..., we ask themselves and leadership styles to say, Are they ever different for the same purpose? I think they're the same. I think we are. who we are. We learn to play to our strengths. one thing to note to take away is that we do play to our strengths in life, right? We may not like numbers, but we might have to do numbers because we're an executive director, we figured out how to do it, doesn't make us analytic. It just means we're capable of doing it. And so I think the best, you know, the best is for us to be self-aware. Always want to grow, and, therefore use the tools in our toolbox that are most appropriate to the situation.

40:25

And so, that could be a little different, I could have a certain asking style, right, but I might use a slightly, I might try to use a different style is a leader, because that might help me move the board in the right direction more.

40:37

So, that's where the nuance comes in, but I've always believed we are what we are and we should go with it. So again, thank you. Best of luck. Have a great afternoon, and I hope you have a very positive year, your organization and a very safe here. Take care.

40:54

Thank you, Brian. And thanks everyone, for attending today's webinar. As Brian mentioned, once you log out, you will receive a survey on the presentation. Please fill it out, We would really appreciate it. And thanks again, everyone, and have a great rest of your day.