Nothing But Major Gifts Veritus Group

Did you know that Veritus Group is an international consulting agency, with offices in the UK & Europe (in addition to our US & Canada team)? We often get questions about how The Veritus Way works in different cultural settings, so we wanted to spend some time sharing about our work with international clients and highlighting what’s been working well for them. 

 

In this episode, Jeff is joined by Sara Di Lullo, Director of Client Engagement for Veritus UK and Europe, along with Karen Kendrick, Senior Director of Client Engagement for Veritus Group in the U.S. and Canada. Tune in to hear Sara and Karen share how our clients are taking a relational approach to major gifts in an international context.  

 

Show Highlights: In this episode, you’ll learn about…  


Some of the concerns we hear most often from leaders or fundraisers who aren’t sure if The Veritus Way will work for them 




The challenges to implementing a culture shift and adopting a strong major gifts strategy 




How our approach has been working for our international clients 

Veritus Group was incredibly honored to be the Presenting Sponsor for the AADO Conference in 2024. 

 

AADO (African American Development Officers Network) is a network of more than 3,500 fundraising professionals of color. Their annual conference is the premier event for fundraising, development, and operations professionals of color, and their allies.  

 

During the conference, our team sat down with several AADO leaders and conference presenters to talk about the projects they’re working on and the path toward racial justice in the non-profit sector. 

 

Our guests on this episode are Birgit Burton, Chief Executive Officer of AADO; Nneka Allen, Founder of The Empathy Agency; and Christopher Beck, Senior Advisor for Principal Gifts and Inclusive Philanthropy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  

 

We were so inspired by this conversation and hope you’ll come away feeling encouraged by the insights shared and the progress toward racial justice in our sector. Thanks for listening! 

 

Show Highlights: In this episode, you’ll learn about…  


The journey toward racial justice in the non-profit sector 


Progress made and current initiatives to support people of color in the fundraising community 


What it looks like to create a space where people can bring their authentic selves to their work in philanthropy 

Over the past two decades, our team at Veritus has analyzed hundreds of different non-profits’ data files, and we see the same trends over and over again. While overall revenue may go up year-over-year, many donors give less over time (or go away altogether). But organizations are often unaware this is happening because the loss is covered up by gifts from new donors.  

So, what can you do about this? The first thing to do is start analyzing your donor file so you can understand where you have opportunities. For today’s episode, Jeff is joined by Theresa Tapocsi (Client Experience Leader) and Amy Chapman (Director of Client Engagement) for a conversation about how we perform our free donor file assessment to identify the hidden potential in your donor file.  

The sooner you understand what’s happening in your data, the sooner you can take action. We hope this episode helps you think about your next steps in analyzing your donor data for opportunities to better engage your donors. 

Show Highlights: In this episode, you’ll learn about…  


The data points Veritus looks at in our free Donor File Assessment and where organizations have the greatest opportunities to improve their fundraising programs 


How we use historical performance to determine a 5-year forecast for your organization 


Common reasons why non-profits reach out to Veritus for our free, no-obligations assessment of their donor file 


Tips for anyone looking to start analyzing their own donor data in this way 

As a fundraiser, you play two roles in any donor meeting. First, you’re there to be a partner to your donor, which means you’re seeking to learn more about their passions so you can help to match those with your organization’s programs.  

 

And your second role is to act as a facilitator so that everyone is on the same page about the purpose of the meeting and leaves feeling like their time was well-used. This is a real skill that requires some practice.  

 

In this podcast episode, Karen and Matt share their top tips for how fundraisers can successfully facilitate a donor meeting using our Permission-Based Asking™ model. 

 

Show Highlights: In this episode, you’ll learn about…  


Some common challenges fundraisers have around meeting facilitation 


An overview of our Permission-Based Asking™ model 


Our team’s top tips for facilitating an effective meeting with a donor 

Building a partnership between mid-level and direct response is crucial to your organization’s success. Yet many organizations are missing out on opportunities to align these groups in a way that will strengthen the donor pipeline.  

 

For this episode, we invited special guests Becca Burgess, VP of Client Services at Moore, and Kara Ansotegui, Senior Director of Leadership Annual Giving at the American Cancer Society, to join us for a conversation about creating a partnership between mid-level and direct response that will result in stronger relationships with donors at every stage of giving.  

 

Show Highlights: In this episode, you’ll learn about…  


The difference between a high-touch direct mail campaign and a relational mid-level approach 


Creative ways that organizations can promote collaboration between mid-level and direct response teams 


Barriers that prevent these groups from coordinating their donor outreach 

Many non-profit leaders rely on metrics because it’s easier than sitting down with their frontline fundraisers each week and helping them stay focused and accountable to their strategic plan. But when your fundraising performance metrics are not aligned with building meaningful relationships with your donors, it can cause a whole host of problems. 



What are the metrics that really matter in fundraising, and how can managers best support their teams to stay on track with those key performance goals? 



In this podcast episode, Jeff is joined by Matt and Debi for a conversation about the metrics that truly matter for your fundraising success and how we approach these metrics in our coaching work with fundraisers. 



Show Highlights: In this episode, you’ll learn about…  


The difference between managed metrics (meaningful connections, cash flowed revenue goal, etc.) versus unmanaged metrics (visits, phone calls, emails) 


How we define and measure meaningful connections 


Our advice to leaders for how to provide fundraisers with coaching and accountability around the metrics that matter