I regret to inform you that I have been kicked out of the Holy Smokes community for raising concerns.In 2022, Holy Smokes suffered a moral failure at the leadership level.Rather than communicating with the Holy Smokes members, the leaders pursued a path of cover up and deception.Members were left to discover the news through local newspapers and national websites. Anyone who subsequently raised concerns were ignored, gaslighted, told to leave, and (absurdly) threatened with legal action.Holy Smokes has avoided transparency and accountability. Instead, Holy Smokes has become secretive, defensive, and threatening. It has disregarded the safety and well-being of its members.This kind of dysfunction must be rejected by men of good conscience. Men who would not tolerate this behavior in their churches or places of work. Men who would not expose their wives and children to this risk. They should not tolerate it in Holy Smokes.

Below is the letter of concern I discussed with Holy Smokes leadership in December 2022.After a few discussions with leadership, I was kicked out of local and international Holy Smokes chapters.

• Holy Smokes: Letter of Concern

Chemistry Staffing Intro

Hi Chemistry Staffing,I'm looking at the Executive Pastor role at Eagle Creek Church in Kansas City, MO.When I applied on your website, I was prompted to upload a video. When I had time to get in front of camera, that prompt was gone.So I'm posting it here.Thanks, Troy

FID Read-thru

Hi Chemistry Staffing,I'm looking at the Executive Pastor role at Eagle Creek Church in Kansas City, MO.When I applied on your website, I was prompted to upload a video. When I had time to get in front of camera, that prompt was gone.So I'm posting it here.Thanks, Troy

Fundraising is Dead

Welcome, welcome, welcome
Today we’re going to be talking about this topic…Fundraising is Dead!You’re here because you thought, what do these guys mean “Fundraising is Dead!”?
And it’s good that you’re there because this is our introductory series on Fundraising is Dead.Now, the idea that fundraising is dead might come as quite a surprise to many of our listeners. It’s a surprise because they’re currently involved with fundraising.In fact, many of you have been involved with fundraising for several years now, or even several decades.And you know your organization needs funding in order to move forward.
Your organization needs to raise money to pay staff, to have buildings, and to achieve the mission of the organization.So what do we mean fundraising is dead?What we mean is that fundraising…the practice of trying to squeeze money out of people is going the way of the dodo.The dodo was a bird that went extinct a long time ago. Why did the dodo go extinct? Because the environment around the dodo changed. Animals go extinct when the ecosystem changes. The weather changes, the availability of food changes, the number and type of predators changes.Where there are key changes…some of the animals don’t make it to the next era.Fundraising is that dodo. It is a practice that is going extinct because the ecosystem is changing. From social media, to mailers, to phone calls, to events. The way people expect to be communicated to…and the way they want to communicate back…all of that has changed in the last decade.Sure, raising funds for your organization will still exist.But fundraising as the practice of trying to squeeze more and more money out of fewer and fewer people will cease to exist.Ok, so here is what we want to cover in this intro episode:One, you don’t have to do fundraising in order to raise money.
What if you just made a bunch of friends instead?
And then those friends gave you money!Two, what are the alternatives to traditional fundraising?
We give you three places to start:The first is this: Stop Fundraising!
Ok, you might have guessed that from the title.
But we really mean it.
Stop asking people for money.When you can’t ask people for money,
you’re going to need to find something else to talk about.
Probably things you have in common.And like any real conversation,
you’ll probably end up discussing THEIR lives and their stories.
And then, suddenly, you’re making friends.The second alternative to fundraising is this: Develop Donors.
Now, I know a lot of fundraising is disguised with the terminology of donor development.
But I assure you no donors are being developed.What the phrase “donor development” usually means in the fundraising world is getting a second donation from person who has give one donation.
So really what they mean is donation development.When we talk about donor development, we’re talking about what you can give to the donor rather than what you can get from the donor.And the third alternative to fundraising is to create an AI system that does it for you.Ok, it may not be AI as we know it right now, but you should create a system that is automatic, a system that knows everything, and a system that does the donor development for you.For most of you, that’s whatever software you’re already using in your fundraising department. Whether that’s Salesforce, or Razor’s Edge, or Network for Good, or whatever you’re already using.Most people are woe-fully under-utilizing their fundraising software.
They put very little information into it…and they get very little information out of it.But when used correctly, any development software should function as a team of 10 staff whose only job it is to collect all the data, and then give you all the information and all the next steps you’ll need in order to raise more money.Ok, those are three ideas we can cover later in this episode.
But first, let’s talk a little bit more about “fundraising is dead”.
We can always talk more about that.Let’s start here:
Let’s look at the typical fundraising approach.
And then you can tell me if it’s functional or sustainable:Fundraising, as it is practiced today, is the practice of finding someone, anyone, who will listen to you for 15 seconds, someone who may have even accidentally and inadvertently made eye contact with you…and now you are going to ask them for money…everyday…everyday….everyday….for the rest of their life.You’re going to send them emails.
You’re going to send them paper mail and postcards.
You’re going to cajole them to attend banquets with special speakers and pledge cards.
You’re going to call them and see if they’d like to give a gift before the end of the year. Or give a gift on Giving Tuesday.
You’re going to see if they are interested in legacy giving and estate planning.
You’re going to send postcards…with words in bold letters…that are circled with red ink.
You’re going to write letters with key phrases in yellow highlighting.
You’re going to send emails (lots of emails) with SAVE THE DATE! in all caps.You’re going to do this day in and day out.
You’re going to do this year in and year out.You’re going to do this until everyone on your list has quit talking to you, moved away without telling you their new address, or they have simply aged out and passed away.And then…you’re going to try to find new people to do this whole routine to again.And why do are you going to do this?
Because it’s super effective?
No. Because it’s not super effective.
In fact, it’s not very effective at all.
And over time, it has a zero percent rate of effectiveness.
Meaning, the more you do it the less effective it becomes.Are you going to do it because other people like it?
Nope. No one likes it.
People hate being treated like they owe you money.
All of us, everyone listening to this episode, is currently on the receiving end of these calls, mailers, emails, and events.
We don’t like it.
Nobody likes it.Are you going to keep doing it because you like to do it?
No again.
This is the part of fundraising that most fundraisers do not enjoy at all.
Most fundraisers actually avoid it.
They outsource this work to consultants, marketing agencies, first year hires, and interns.Do you know why you’re going to keep doing it even though 1) it’s not effective, 2) other people don’t like it, and 3) you don’t like it…
You’re going to keep doing it because everyone else is doing it.You’re going to keep doing it because that’s what you learned to do and that’s all you’ve ever done.And, most importantly, you’re going to keep doing it because you do not know what else you’d do if you stopped doing this.(Aside) this is one of those things the industry tends to call “best practices”. Is everyone else doing it? Yes. It must be a best practice. Is it effective. Nope. Doesn’t matter. It’s a best practice.If we aren’t going to do what everyone else is doing, what kind of options do we have?
After this break, we’ll discuss just that….Welcome back, we were just talking about Fundraising is Dead.
We’re discussing the fact that fundraising is dead.
Fundraising as an industry is exhausted.
Donors are exhausted.In future episodes we’ll be discussing more of the statistics and trends inside the industry, but overall fundraising is a tired endeavor at best, it is generally embarrassing, and actually… usually…the typical fundraising technics you are relying on are damaging your fundraising efforts…now and in the future.Ok, I’ve spoken to enough people in the industry to know that you and I probably agree so far.
At least there would be conceptual agreement.
We would agree that the typical fundraising efforts are not very effective.
We’ve gotten to the place where a 1% ROI or a 10% ROI is considered pretty good.
Well, it might be common, but it’s not good.So if we are going to avoid typical fundraising, what do we do instead?
If I stepped into your fundraising department right now, this is where I’d start.
And my goal is to double your fundraising results…and also create a sustainable and predicable system that continues to increase your fundraising ROI year over year.And I specify both parts of this approach: boost now and long-term ROI..
Because it’s pretty easy to step into any typical fundraising department and boost their short-term results.We can double the number of appeals,
we can double the number of phone calls,
we can create special campaigns,
we can hire a spokesperson.There are lots of “blast” efforts we can do.
Any often this can create a short-term bump in donations,
but then it creates a longer-term slump and decline in overall donations.
And now you’re in a worse position than when you started.So, instead of making things worse,
there are a number of other things we can do.
We don’t have time in this episode to go through all of them.
But here’s where we start:There are three main parts to creating sustainable funding for your organization.
We can’t cover all three in this episode, but I do want to explore the third one more in-depth.The first is Quit Fundraising.
Seriously, quit asking people for money.Instead, start talking to people. Tell people what you’re doing. Tell people why your work matters, not in general, but why your work matters to them, how it can change their life, and how they can get involved.More specifically, we would sit down with your fundraising department, your marketing department, your executive team… and we would create a whole year of content…including newsletters, and email, and mailers, and events…a whole year of content that did not ask for money.Now, listen, I know this is a podcast, but I can see that look on your face.
It’s quizzical, it’s mixed with disbelief…
It’s ending with dismissal.
It’s a look that says, “well, that’s not realistic”.And here I am looking back, thinking, but have you seen your own fundraising trends?
Most of your donors have never given a second donation,
nor have they responded to any of your appeals during the previous year.We do a whole other episode just on this topic, so I’ll leave it here for now.
But know that not focusing on money only is possible, and, in fact,
it is the only tactical and sustainable way to move forward.Ok, the second area we would focus on is…Two: Develop Donors.
Quit asking for money AND start developing donors.Fundraising and donor development are not the same thing.
And usually they are the exact opposite of each other.For most organizations, the term “donor development” usually means asking a person who gave one donation to give another donation.That’s not donor development.
“Development”, the term “development”, means taking an organism from one level of maturity to the next level of maturity.
Think of these synonyms: evolution, progress, growth.Think about the term “child development”.
It means walking a child through their stages of development.
For example: learning sit up, learning to crawl, learning toddle, learning to walk, learning to run.
This is a natural progression of maturity.
If a child stalls at one of these stages, we would say they are stalled in their development.
Now it’s time to do some interventions.
Those interventions involve giving the child more input to them move to the next level.How would we apply this to donors?Think of it this way:
Donors should be developed across three stages: Interested, Involved, Advocacy.
This should be the natural progression.So the question for the organization, the question for the donor development rep,
is “what can I give this donor (this person who is invested in our mission),
what can I give this donor to help them understand our mission better?
What can I give them to help live their life better?
What can I give them to help them be more equipped and more empowered?I’m helping that donor to develop a better life.
The focus of donor development is “what can I give” rather than “what can I get”.Ok, let’s move on to the third area.
Again, let’s say we walk into your fundraising department.
First, we’re going to look at your content: how are you talking to your audiences?
Second, we’re going to look at your donor development: how are your interacting with your donors?
And now, third, we’re going to look at your donor database and/or your donor CRM.Three: create systems that develop donors for you.
Most of you have donor CRM systems,
Whether it’s Blackbaud, Salesforce, Razor’s Edge, Network for Good, etc, etc…
There are many donor software platforms out there.For most organizations, it doesn’t really matter which software platform you use,
what matters most is that you use it consistently and diligently.Most organizations are NOT using their donor CRM consistently or diligently.
Most organizations have a smattering or names, dates, and amounts in their CRM.Now, pay attention to this, I’m calling your database a CRM.
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management.Databases store data.
CRM helps you manage your relationships.I have over 1000 contacts in my cell phone.
I use about 1% them.
Honestly, about 50% I don’t really remember who they are or why they are in there.
The other 50% are from high school, college, places I used to work, mechanics, plumbers, etc.
But when I remember I need to talk to someone
I punch in a name and usually get a phone number.One the other hand, any given morning, when I get up,
My wife says to me:“You remember it’s Betty’s birthday today, right? We should get her a new scarf.”
“And later this week we have dinner with the Smith’s. Friday night. Let's bring a bottle of white wine.”
“I talked to your mom yesterday. You need to get something for your parents anniversary next week, you had mentioned tickets to the musical.”
“And tonight, you were helping Junior with that school project. He's making a diorama of pre-historic dinosaurs. You have to make a triceratops out of clay. Good luck.”Now, of course, I don’t remember any of those things.
But my wife does.
She is my CRM, my Customer Relationship Management system.
And because of her, I can keep up on all my relationships and not be a total jerk.My phone stores data.
My wife Manages Relationships.They both have the same information.
But they have very different outcomes.Most organizations have a donor database.
Very few have a Customer Relationship Management tool.Now, I’ve been with my wife for thirty years.
She’s had a lot of data input.
Names, dates, events, conversations.
All of them have been stored in her memory.Now, let’s go back to my daily routine.
In the morning my wife reminds me of all the relationships I need to manage that day.
Now, when I get to work….
My CRM tells me everything I need to do for the day:Mr. Jones gave a donation two days ago. Let’s give him a call.
The Brown’s anniversary is next week. You were going to send them a card.
That book for Mr. Smith was just published. You need to send him a copy.
You remember the Garcia’s were supposed to close on their new house. What’s a nice house warming gift?Now, I’ve been with this CRM for over five years.
It has had a lot of data input:
Names, dates, events, conversations.
All of them have been stored in its memory.My CRM told me the Brown’s anniversary is next week.
I ask my CRM of the Brown’s record.
I see a picture of Mark and Cindy Brown.
I see a family picture of Mark and Cindy and their children.
I see a picture of them at our banquet they attended last fall.
They have four children and their names and ages. Where they attend school.
I see they own a small plumbing company called Plumber’s Crack.
He attended college at State University. Business major.
She attended a private liberal arts college. English major.
He once ran for city council, but didn’t make it.
He’s running again in two years.He has a boat and likes books about navel history.
She writes a blog about backyard chickens.
They have 25 chickens. In a suburban neighborhood.They attend church regularly.
They don’t drink alcohol.
He does intermittent fasting most days.
Avoid topics about alcohol or cigars.Your last conversation with them was 43 days ago.
You had called to leave a message about their son’s graduation from college.
The conversation prior to that w