In this episode, Adam Michael Royston and Marvin Vilma are back and they’re diving into the hot topic of East Coast vs. West Coast fundraising. These two fundraising experts have a wealth of experience between them, and they’re bringing their unique perspectives to the table to give listeners a deeper understanding of the differences and similarities between fundraising on opposite coasts.
From the fast-paced hustle of New York City to the tech-heavy vibe of San Francisco, Adam Michael and Marvin will take listeners on a journey through the fundraising landscape of the East and West Coasts. They’ll share their own personal experiences, as well as insights and actionable tips for listeners looking to raise money in either region. Whether you’re a seasoned fundraiser or just starting out, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the world of fundraising and all its vagaries.
To connect with Adam Michael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-michael-royston-cfre-/
To connect with Marvin Vilma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mvilma/
QUOTE “I know nonprofit fundraisers who put Burning Man in their budget”
Episode Transcript
RHEA WONG 00:06
Welcome to Nonprofit Lowdown. I’m your host, Rhea Wong. Hey, podcast listeners. It’s Rhea Wong with you once again with Nonprofit Lowdown. Today, I am speaking with two dear friends about East Coast versus West Coast fundraising.
RHEA WONG 00:22
I think there are some big differences and we are going to find out what they are. So please welcome my guest, Adam Michael Royston. He is VP at LYRIC: Center for LGBTQQ+ Youth in San Francisco. And Marvin Vilma is the Managing Director of Development at Let’s Get Ready in Boston. I know both of you have been podcast guests before. So welcome back.
ADAM MICHAEL 00:44
Awesome! Thanks for having us.
MARVIN VILMA 00:46
Great to be back, Rhea.
RHEA WONG 00:48
Always great to have you. Okay, Adam Michael, let’s start with you. Can you give us a brief tour of your career in nonprofit and how you ended up fundraising and then Marvin will go to you?
ADAM MICHAEL 00:59
Yeah, for sure. I went to school in DC. So East Coast originally and was working at the YMCA in DC and so our fundraising while I was in college, and that was kind of how I started it. Then I went abroad for about seven and a half years and worked in international development, but fundraising for about 22 countries, mostly in the Asian region.
ADAM MICHAEL 01:22
And then I always tell people that true love was giving up your penthouse apartment in Bangkok and moving to San Francisco. And so my partner and I, we’re partners, in eight generations San Franciscan, so there’s no way I was gonna get him to leave.
ADAM MICHAEL 01:35
And so we move to San Francisco and started raising money for international efforts here. But now I work for the second oldest and second largest LGBTQ youth center in the United States. But I also do some side projects still in Asia.
ADAM MICHAEL 01:49
I just got back from Vietnam last week, where I was helping a bunch of queer activists in asylum seekers and kind of like raising money for their activism and their art. So raising money both on the East Coast, West Coast, and internationally.
RHEA WONG 02:01
That’s so interesting. We might also get into international fundraising if that’s different at all. Marvin, over to you.
MARVIN VILMA 02:11
Thanks, Rhea. So my journey to fundraising I think started in my youth because I was the beneficiary of a lot of support from various nonprofit organizations. So felt familiar with philanthropy and fundraising as a beneficiary, but I think, really started to dip my toes into the work after working with Rhea as a teaching fellow at a breakthrough in New York and having the opportunity to visit a donor at their home on Long Island and be a part of this event experience where I got to see fundraising happen close up.
MARVIN VILMA 02:44
And it felt like it was a career pathway that intrigued me to the point where I did an internship in college and the special events department and that materialized into my current career. I will say that my journey into frontline fundraising specifically with a little bit more security than what I just described because, for the longest time, I thought special events were my way to contribute to fundraising and my way to contribute to the nonprofit ecosystem.
MARVIN VILMA 03:14
But I learned through a lot of trial and error and through a lot of mentorships that any nonprofit executive needs to know how to do frontline fundraising. So in an effort to get that box checked off, I decided to pursue frontline fundraising in higher education, and institution, work out of graduate school and learned really sort of the process of cultivating a donor, sowing a donor, and going through that donor engagement process.
MARVIN VILMA 03:42
I fell in love with it. And here I am today doing it at a smaller organization that does college access work and really glad to be here to talk about some of what I’ve learned about this journey.
RHEA WONG 03:53
Awesome! And I must say I’m so privileged to have been part of your journey. Marvin. The world has a talented fundraiser because I invited you to the podcast. So just so we can ground ourselves a little bit. Let’s start with you, Marvin. Can you tell us who you’re primarily raising money from? When you’re talking about your frontline fundraising, are you primarily dealing with foundations, corporations, individuals, or something else?
MARVIN VILMA 04:18
And my current role with let’s get ready, I am working with a combination of all of the above, primarily foundations that are providing larger checks to our organization. And I also work with individuals who have either a family foundation or they’re giving through a donor-advised fund.
MARVIN VILMA04:37
I will say that in terms of my specific market, it is an older group of individuals. Many of whom are either retired or close to retirement. It is a predominantly white community that I work with.
MARVIN VILMA 04:51
And they’re very New York City-based and so it’s interesting that living in Boston but working with a donor community in New York, they’re certainly even some differences that I’ve noticed is the east coast between my Boston donors and my New York City donors, and we can dive more into that as the conversation moves forward. But that’s the primary market that I support.
RHEA WONG 05:14
Okay, let’s dig into it. Adam Michael, go over to you. I know that you have taken on a lot of other responsibilities, but when you’re primarily doing frontline fundraising, who was the target audience?
ADAM MICHAEL 05:25
Yeah, so I’m a lot like Marvin. I kind of have a mix of all three. I would say that particularly foundations received a lot of our financial support from foundations. But because we’re an LGBTQ Center, we also get a lot of corporations that are interested in us, particularly around June not so surprisingly, when we suddenly become relevant.
ADAM MICHAEL 05:49
And so we do a lot of ERG work with corporations in June. And of those corporations, some of them are East Coast based but there are also a lot of tech companies that are West Coast-based. And then our foundations, we have a lot of foundations, family foundations, etc, that are based here in Northern California.
ADAM MICHAEL 06:09
But we also have several, one foundation in particular that supports us is actually based in Boston. So that’s kind of interesting. It’s just kind of the differences. We also have a lot of individuals, and a lot of our individual donors are older gay men, actually. And a lot of them live in Northern California.
ADAM MICHAEL 06:31
But over time, a lot of them have also started moving out to the desert and to Palm Springs. And so it’s interesting, just even how, to Marvin’s point the differences of even what I noticed with my donors are like, have relocated to Southern California, there’s a bit of a difference of just how they engage, even though they were in Northern California. But then suddenly, I don’t know what I guess once you hit the desert life, it just changes completely.
RHEA WONG 06:59
Fundraiser in Palm Springs, I love it. Okay, wait. So let’s just dig into it. And for the purposes of this conversation, let’s really focus on individuals because I think we’re gonna see the most difference.
RHEA WONG 07:09
So Adam Michael, let’s start with you. What differences have you noticed with your donor? Because actually, and maybe this is wrong, I would have assumed that your donor base would be a bit younger, just given the amount of wealth in the tech community, but what have you noticed with your donor base as far as the process of bringing them to the donor attorney?
ADAM MICHAEL 07:29
Yeah, I mean, I would say that a lot of my individuals there, to the idea of younger as well, I would say that there was a mid-range point, probably of that first kind of tech boom of folks. And so I would say a lot of my donors, do not want to necessarily meet in person.
ADAM MICHAEL 07:47
They want to get fast information as quickly as possible. I text a lot with my donors, which I think is very different from my East Coast donors. That’s always emails. It’s always even hard mail. I think it’s a great example. So our East Coast donor. We just had an event last night, and we had some folks that we invited that were not based in San Francisco, and we were very clear that they needed to get handwritten hardcopy invitations.
ADAM MICHAEL 08:13
Whereas a lot of our donors who came, we actually got them there via an image that we got in text. So we mass-texted a lot of our donors to get them to the event last night. And I would say more of those came than not. And I don’t think that that’s something that people would necessarily engage with in other places, but it was very supportive of our community here.
ADAM MICHAEL 08:40
So that’s definitely one thing that we do is try to use tech as much as possible. But also just our donors like because it’s San Francisco, they’re so used to just getting like impact numbers and impact data. And so one of the things last night that like we knew we had to have was kind of like an impact sheet or a data sheet that had like numbers, right?
ADAM MICHAEL 09:00
Because so many folks in our community are data-driven and are so used to analyzing data all day. So if you don’t have those things, like there are still good stories just are not what they’re looking for as much as they’re in.
RHEA WONG 09:13
Oh, that’s so interesting. And actually, I just want to put a pin in this, I’d love for you to tell the story that you told me about how luxury brands train their salespeople in San Francisco because I think that’s a whole other thing. But Marvin, over to you. What is your cycle look like? Is it much more traditional? Is it a little bit more buttoned up?
MARVIN VILMA 09:34
Yeah, it certainly feels more traditional and buttoned up. And I’m really sort of curious to learn more about your experience out of my golf, particularly in sort of San Francisco Silicon Valley.
MARVIN VILMA 09:45
But for the purposes of our conversation today, I’m going to primarily talk about New York City, because I think when looking at East Coast and West Coast, people oftentimes compare California and New York. Although there are lots of local geographies on the east coast and the west coast, how we can also explore.
MARVIN VILMA 10:02
But I think California and New York are pretty representative of the sort of what we hope to get from this conversation. So in New York City, a lot of folks get their wealth from being in financial services.
MARVIN VILMA 10:13
And so that lends itself to a little bit more of Polish traditional culture. And I think that’s best represented in the types of events that we host for individual donors. It’s a lot of sit-down to the cold chicken type of galahs, which is very sort of fundamental to people’s philanthropic experience in New York City.
MARVIN VILMA 10:38
There’s a lot of storytelling that happens via email, and handwritten notes. And people are really focused on proximity to the mission. They want to hear a story. They want to see a student.
MARVIN VILMA 10:51
They want to feel close to the mission by like really understanding what the community challenge or problem is being solved. And they want to feel like they are part of that. So I don’t text my donors.
MARVIN VILMA 11:05
But I do a lot of phone calls, I do a lot of emailing and handwritten notes. And it’s that personal touch that really helps to convey. You put energy towards this relationship, and I want to see you sort of work for it. And maybe this is a little bit of me internalizing things as a fundraiser.
MARVIN VILMA 11:27
But I’ve always felt that impression from working with donors, and they want to see the effort. They want to be taken out to lunch, to really have a conversation about what their gift is contributing towards. And so maybe that’s a little bit of a distinction from the California engagement that Adam Michael spoke about.
ADAM MICHAEL 11:46
When you said that about using calling, I’m like, whoa, like I haven’t called a donor in so long and this makes me probably sound so horrible as a fundraiser, but what I call I’ve, what I’ve noticed is like, people will just text me back and be like, hey, what’s up? And it’s like you said when you said that, I was like, oh, gosh, I haven’t called in so long. So it just was funny like that, that you brought that up because like, do people answer the phone?
MARVIN VILMA 12:13
Yeah, people answer the phone. And they are very proactive at calling me, in fact. If they have a question, or they just received an email, and they’re like, oh, that was a really cool piece of content. Let me call Marvin, because, of course, he’s going to answer. So it is a very different dynamic than texting. There’s this expectation that you are available for our conversation always.
RHEA WONG 12:36
So my question is, how much do you think this is generational? And how much do you think is geographically specific? And, maybe there’s no right answer. But it’s an interesting question.
ADAM MICHAEL 12:49
I think it’s like a mix, right? I mean, I think it has to be like you kind of have to do it as both. But then I think you also have to think about when you’re thinking about wealth, there is geographic wealth that’s generational, right?
ADAM MICHAEL 13:02
So I think when you think about like New York City, you think about like, certain philanthropic families that have always kind of been involved. And then traditionally, there’s a lot more like New York wealth in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.
ADAM MICHAEL 13:15
And it’s more like any, there’s this idea that like anyone could be really like, able to make that kind of impact gifts in this area. And it’s not like they’re traditional families. We do have those traditional families.
ADAM MICHAEL 13:29
But I actually find that they are less and less of a conversation because there is so much other wealth that is happening. But yeah, I kind of feel like it’s both but it’s still regional in the sense of like, where the wealth came from. So I think that’s where the cultural differences come from.
RHEA WONG 13:47
That’s such an interesting point. Yeah, I was just thinking about, like, Boomer versus Gen X versus Gen Z versus millennial. But Adam Michael, that’s such a good point about the sources of wealth, right? Because it’s really different. Marvin, any thoughts about that?
MARVIN VILMA 14:01
Yeah, I would just sort of double-click what Adam Michael shared. I think there are overlaps. And we all have intersectional identities. So it certainly is sort of this binary of east coast and west coast.
MARVIN VILMA 14:14
There are other factors that inform the way folks think about their philanthropy. But I think the source of wealth is a big one. And also what are the industries in these different areas that inform how people think about their philanthropy? In New York, it’s a lot of finance.
MARVIN VILMA 14:32
It’s media. It’s publishing. I’m going to make an assumption here, Adam Michael, correct me if I’m wrong, but I would assume that entertainment tech is really big on the west coast where you are. And so that certainly shapes people’s approach.
MARVIN VILMA 14:47
And the other thing that I’ll add quickly is I actually think it’s the bigger nonprofits that also influence how people think about philanthropy on both coasts. In Boston and New York, there is a very strong hospital and higher education ecosystem.
MARVIN VILMA 15:06
And so if you go to Harvard, MIT, NYU, Columbia, or if you are interacting with any of the hospitals, they are training people to think about philanthropy in a specific type of way, and really setting the tone for the type of philanthropy people engage with.
MARVIN VILMA 15:24
And so I think a lot about where people get their wealth from. What types of nonprofits are setting the tone for the ecosystem? And also like, how nonprofit rich are those different communities? Like, are there a ton of nonprofits or are they not, and that also sort of shapes the conversation.
RHEA WONG 15:44
That’s a good point. It reminds me, someone once said this to me, and I just, thought it was so interesting that every different city kind of has a way to show status. So in New York, it’s money. In DC, it’s power. In San Francisco, it’s a kind of spirituality-like connectedness. I would love for you to tell the story that you told me that kind of blew my mind about how luxury sells who are trying to in San Francisco.
ADAM MICHAEL 16:12
Yeah, for sure. So I have a friend who works for a really nice luxury brand. I also personally if we love luxury brands.
RHEA WONG 16:21
It’s not fancy.
ADAM MICHAEL 16:25
When you go to come micelle’s agent, and a lot of these luxury brands, you go through kind of their boot camp, if you will, like how do you pick out a potential client? And like, what are you looking for in terms of how they’re dressed, and how they come into the store, etc?
ADAM MICHAEL 16:41
And so this one particular brand has this like three-day kind of thing. They go through all this. And then if you’re based in Northern California, there’s a store in Stanford and in Palo Alto, and there’s a store in San Francisco.
ADAM MICHAEL 16:55
And if you’re either one of those, then you have to go to an additional day, where they basically tell you to forget everything that you just learned. And then here’s actually what you’re looking for. And it’s like the person in the sweatpants and the hoodie.
ADAM MICHAEL 17:08
Like, actually, those sweatpants and hoodies could be like $1,000. And like, those are actually your clients. It’s like the ones that go into the store that like isn’t really like blinky and showy. Like, those are the ones that are probably actually going to be the ones that are going to drop more money inside the store.
ADAM MICHAEL 17:27
Because San Francisco just has such a different, as Northern California has such a different culture in terms of like how we present ourselves, like with luxury goods. And so I think that really relates back to like fundraising, too, right? Like, when you’re thinking about looking for folks, and you’re mining and prospect developing, l like, I think that oftentimes if you go like the traditional route in Northern California like you could be missing some really key folks, right?
ADAM MICHAEL 17:50
Like, I have a neighbor, for instance, who worked at a major tech company, and they have two kids. I have an 11-year-old, so they have two kids roughly on either side of my kid, and she’s 42 and retired and has no intentions of ever working again.
ADAM MICHAEL 18:07
And so like when she like told us like two or three weeks ago, she came over for like a glass of wine. And then I was asking her how work was going just like, oh, I’m retiring. And I thought she was joking. I truly didn’t believe and I was like, what are you gonna do? It’s just like, I don’t know. Like, I guess maybe like, become a philanthropist.
ADAM MICHAEL 18:23
Like, isn’t that what people do once they retire? And I was like, your in the 40s, like, how are you retiring? And just like, because I just don’t want to work anymore. I don’t have to. And so I think that’s a great example because I know that they are significant contributors to a diabetes organization in the area because their daughter has diabetes.
ADAM MICHAEL 18:45
And I think traditional, like fundraisers, would have totally not picked up on either one of them. Because they wouldn’t fit the normal profile of someone who would get but I think they give, definitely, in the community.
RHEA WONG 18:59
That is so funny. And Adam Michael, you’ve just talked about my life ambition. I want to work optional, it’s where I’m headed. I like it, but I don’t want to be super involved with it. I want to be a philanthropist. It’s actually what I’m trying to say. Okay, let’s talk nitty gritty. How long is your cultivation cycle on average? Marvin, let’s start with you.
MARVIN VILMA 19:26
And are we talking about prayer, a major gift?
RHEA WONG 19:28
Yeah, major gift.
MARVIN VILMA 19:30
I would say the range is from six to nine months. And I would say that it also depends on what type of shop you’re working in, to be clear. If you’re working in higher education, it can be six to nine months to a year for smaller organizations like Let’s Get Ready.
MARVIN VILMA 19:51
I think there’s a shorter window of time six to nine months but it takes a while and it takes a while because people are very purposeful and intentional and how they think about their philanthropy.
MARVIN VILMA 20:02
So there’s a lot of work that goes into making sure there’s alignment and that it feels right. And the relationship is in a place where you can sort of like negotiate a gift that makes sense with their intentions and with what the organization has to offer.
RHEA WONG 20:18
Six to nine months on average. Adam Michael?
ADAM MICHAEL 20:25
Yeah, I would say like zero months to like three months, like I…
MARVIN VILMA 20:30
What is zero month?
ADAM MICHAEL 20:35
People are just binding, giving you money that you didn’t even have in your pipeline. I think I have other fundraising friends who say this happens a lot. And in particular, we follow, it’s changing a little bit a lot because of the tech layoffs that are occurring.
ADAM MICHAEL 20:52
And so we are seeing an impact of that. But at the same time, I always am telling people that tech is laying off because they overhired. But there’s still a significant amount of people who are still working and there are higher level positions that aren’t going anywhere.
ADAM MICHAEL 21:07
And so what we find is, when bonuses happen, we get a significant amount of money. So when tax tech companies go through their bonus structure, or law firms do their bonuses for the year, we see that and so I have a major donor, who truly came to us in May.
ADAM MICHAEL 21:25
I had never asked them and they gave me a pretty significant gift. So and they were just like, oh, they’re both double income, no kids kind of situation, both techies, and they were like you do good work. Like here’s a gap, and I hadn’t ever met them. We had no relationship.
ADAM MICHAEL 21:44
And I’ve tried to establish a relationship. We’ve had coffee once for 25 minutes. And every time either one of them gets a bonus, I get $5,000 now, and so this has happened like in six months, that’s happened four times.
ADAM MICHAEL 22:02
And that’s on top of their first gift, which was much more than $5,000. And so I know, that’s just like one example. But I truly do have a lot of those examples where like, for instance, last night at our event, my boss was traditional, I think you would have an event where you get the photos of your biggest donors, and then you’d like write out like thing.
ADAM MICHAEL 22:21
And then everyone knows who everyone is in the room. And like, my boss and I have worked together previously at a very large nonprofit that would have gone about doing it that way. And when we were prepping for it, they were like, who are these people?
ADAM MICHAEL 22:35
I was like, I think it’s them. But like, I’m not sure because like I’ve never actually met them. But they say they give us $100,000 a year. I’m like, yeah, but we don’t know that. That was like they just give us money. And they also might not be here.
ADAM MICHAEL 22:53
And I would love to hear Marvin’s take on this. I think more and more in Northern California. Like we’re very anti-nametag at events. And it’s really interesting, because when folks come from other areas, like people like oh, there’s no name tags.
ADAM MICHAEL 23:07
And I’m like, yeah, like, I don’t know, we’re just like very big on that. I don’t know your take on that. Because that’s something that shows up sometimes when like there’s that cross-cultural pollination that occurs. And I would guess that you probably do like name tags, and people are very traditional.
RHEA WONG 23:26
New Yorkers love name tags, Marvin, what do you think?
MARVIN VILMA 23;29
Indeed, we love a name tag. And like you were saying, out of my code, there’s so much that you can learn about culture through the types of events that they host in New York, not only do we live name tags, but I think we also like to know who’s going to be in the room before we show up.
MARVIN VILMA 23:47
Because people like to sort of prepare mentally to have conversations with certain people. And so oftentimes, I get the question, who else is showing up to this place? There’s not that sort of authentic curiosity. Let me just be there and experience the event.
MARVIN VILMA 24:03
As it happens, there’s a lot of mental preparation that folks like there’s a lot of, I think, just like consuming knowledge at events, so people like to sit down and listen to a story or a lecture or something, which is very different than perhaps the west coast where people want to talk to each other and sort of have more informal networking and gather.
MARVIN VILMA 24:23
I don’t have any sort of West Coast stories because I’ve never done West Coast fundraising outside of foundation work. But if it’s always interesting to look from a university perspective at their staff, you can pretty much tell who’s a West Coast fundraiser versus the East Coast fundraiser.
MARVIN VILMA 24:40
And our office at the university I worked at prior, our West Coast fundraiser would come into the office with a very different wardrobe than our East Coast fundraisers who had the pearls and the earrings and a very polished look, though. Yeah, it was just fascinating to just see that difference on a day-to-day basis.
ADAM MICHAEL 25:00
You can see that if you go to any of that national fundraising conferences, it’s like my favorite thing. You can see the complete pollination of who fundraisers were, and my partner always jokes, it’s like, are they fundraisers or real estate agents because like, you could be either one and but when you go, particularly this past year, the National Conference was in Las Vegas, so there was a lot of west coasters there.
ADAM MICHAEL 25:25
And so you could just see there’s an East Coast, pant suits and suits and ties, and I’m like, oh, I like I own like two suits, because like, I got rid of them all when I moved back from Bangkok because I used to have to wear suits every day. And then moving here, I was like, oh, like, no one’s gonna take me seriously if I have them on. Like, they’re gonna be like, who’s this guy?
RHEA WONG 25:51
What else? I think there’s something here too, about the difference between first-generation wealth creators and people who have inherited wealth. I have friends who have made significant wealth and technique.
RHEA WONG 26:01
They call it the internet lottery. And in some ways, they don’t really see it the same way as someone who has generational wealth. It might be in a stewardship sense. Okay, let’s talk about solicitation because I’m so curious. So the rule of thumb, best practice is we’re taught as fundraisers to do solicitation in person for the significant gift. Curious, especially you, Adam Michael, is that true for you?
ADAM MICHAEL 26:27
No, I would say like, I do a lot of zoom calls. And I wouldn’t consider that like in person. And if I do things in person, they’re short. Like, I find them to be a lot shorter than would have been used to. And I think that the pandemic has changed that a lot, too. I think that so many folks, like to sit so much on Zoom, and they’re so used to it.
ADAM MICHAEL 26:49
But yeah, I would say like, there’s a lot of solicitation for us that comes in a lot of different ways. And I think like, we have to think about, like how people are using the technology that they use every day.
ADAM MICHAEL 27:00
So yeah, I mean, my favorite place to the Four Seasons bar in San Francisco, and like, I’d probably close more deals there than anything. But it’s really like, that’s a space in San Francisco, where a lot of tech deals get made too.
ADAM MICHAEL 27:17
And so I think like that’s a really like if fundraisers are thinking about their own contacts, think about in terms of business, where are the deals happening? And then like, figure out how you can also get into that space, right?
ADAM MICHAEL 27:30
Because even if you’re in a small town, in the Midwest, we’re in the south, like, I’m from North Carolina, myself, there are spaces like that, like diners or spaces that folks meet and have those business deals.
ADAM MICHAEL 27:45
And so if you’re present yourself in a lot of those spaces, then people just start recognizing you. And then they’re like, well, you’re here a lot. I’ve met a lot of donors, like just by people being like, oh, you’re here a lot, like, do you live in the building? And I’m like, no, I don’t live in the building.
ADAM MICHAEL 28:01
But that kind of makes people more familiar with you. And so I think like, that’s a really good rule of thumb. There’s everywhere. There are spaces where deals get paid. And so I would figure out why is it that nonprofit folks, like don’t feel comfortable? Like forcing themselves in that space as well?
RHEA WONG 28:18
Yeah, for sure. You have gotta fish where there is fish in the pond. Anyway, side note, if I were at West Coast fundraising, I for sure would be at Burning Man. Because like, weirdly, a lot of deals get made at Burning Man.
ADAM MICHAEL 28:30
I know nonprofit people who put that in their budget.
RHEA WONG 28:33
Yeah, they should. How many people who are tech-rich hanging out at Burning Man? That’s the thing. And Kauai, weirdly, Kawaii is like a hub. Anyway, Adam, I think you should put Kauai in your budget. Marvin, over to you. What is your solicitation look like? Is it still more traditional?
MARVIN VILMA 28:55
This is fascinating because this is so foreign to me. It is very traditional relative to what you just heard. There are lots of sit-down coffees, lunches, and dinners in person. And sometimes that that’s folks homes, so they invite us over for a dinner and we have the opportunity to make to ask and what I was most fascinated by as you were talking out of Michael is that you use a bird deal.
MARVIN VILMA 29:26
And I was like, oh, this kind of blew my mind. Because even the way that we talk about a gift, it’s very different in terms of the nomenclature we use. And so it’s very traditional out here on the East Coast. And for some people, it works great, and for others not.
RHEA WONG 29:41
Final question about the process. Marvin, let’s talk about stewardship. So once you seal the deal, it sounds like your donors are very into like the touch points the phone calls, the coffees, and so forth. Is that true? And is it true for all of the different ages of major givers that you have?
MARVIN VILMA 30:04
That’s a good question. So I’ll answer your first question. First. I think there is a high level of accountability that major gift donors in particular expect from organizations, whether there’s a report that happens or a conversation that’s scheduled six months later to sort of see here an update about how their gift is being leveraged.
MARVIN VILMA 30:28
There are a lot of expectations around communication post-gift being made. And it’s interesting because what I’ve also noticed more recently is that folks like to not make a lump sum gift, but they like to spread out their gift, even if it’s within one fiscal year. So maybe half of the gift comes in quarter two, and then and then the other half comes in quarter four because people really want to assess how well am I going to be stewarded before that second gift comes in.
MARVIN VILMA 30:56
And so there is a high level of accountability that is both appreciated, but also just this vestige, I think of philanthropy of like the early 20th century. And on the younger generation front, I think there’s an interesting blend. I think the younger generation folks realize that accountability can be problematic, but they also want to hear from us often.
MARVIN VILMA 31:26
And so I think many of my millennial donors struggle with this tension of wanting to be sort of a more community-centric donor and also wanting to feel like they’re a part of the organization in a deeper way. And so oftentimes, I hear conflicting perspectives from them.
RHEA WONG 31:49
What I’m hearing is it depends. And actually, I’m going to ask you the next question about general trends and forecasting. So hold tight to that. But Adam Michael, I am fascinated by the fact that you have six-figure donors who never want to hear from you. Say, what is stewardship look like for you?
ADAM MICHAEL 32:03
Yeah, I mean, stewardship, a lot of times, it’s like data reports, data figures, or numbers, oftentimes, Instagram, texting them, sometimes, like we Instagram, our donors actually, like, that’s one thing we didn’t talk about, but we Instagram message a lot of our donors, and this isn’t necessarily just like millennial donors, either.
ADAM MICHAEL 32:22
Like, I have folks in my capital campaign who are in their 70s, who are my friends on Instagram. And that’s like for them like they’re following and keeping up. When I have convening meetings, they’re like, oh, we saw the fair that happened, or like the Koch drive, and it looked amazing. And it’s like, I didn’t put together a shiny report.
ADAM MICHAEL 32:41
It’s like, oh, here’s our code drive. And we gave out like 1000 codes, it’s like, so many folks are engaging with us in that way. So yeah, it’s a lot of that. I mean, I think particularly with foundations, and stewardship, like Marvin, is pointing out, I have foundations on the East Coast, whose reporting requirements, like are exhaustive and they want to know where every dollar was spent.
ADAM MICHAEL 33:07
And there are 15 reports done in a year. And then most of my foundations that are based in Northern California, or on the West Coast, in general, are much more trust base. They’re like, here’s $100,000, just give us one story at the end of the year, right?
ADAM MICHAEL 33:28
And so I have several reports to do in the next three weeks, and I’m not really stressed out about it, because they’re mostly just like, tell us some good things that occurred, right? And these are some fairly large foundations that are based here.
ADAM MICHAEL 33:44
And it makes me when I’m thinking about looking at mining and prospecting further, it doesn’t have for me to have a tendency to lend itself more to the foundations at our West Coast base. Because when I see some of the sometimes based on these custom, like, reporting requirements.
ADAM MICHAEL 34:05
And I’m gonna have to like have like a 15-page report that’s due and ask like multiple questions. And so I think it also like kind of impacts like how you’re like that stewardship fees kind of impacts like a full circle back to prospecting, because in my mind, I’m like, oh, that’s gonna be a lot of work on the back end.
ADAM MICHAEL 34:24
Like we have a really small development team at the center. So when we’re looking at that, it kind of comes down to that as well. But yeah, I mean stewardship, too, it’s a lot of keeping people updated on data numbers. It’s really important for us.
ADAM MICHAEL 34:38
The stories are great. And we sprinkle in stories here and there. But really what our donors find the most is, they want to know how many youths per serve. They want to know. The thing that happens a lot at our center is people are fascinated by our breakdown of orientation and gender identity, which was something I didn’t expect coming means the job of people is constantly wanting to know like how many gay youths we serve versus trans youth.
ADAM MICHAEL35:07
And that’s like been a really interesting kind of thing. I think that’s more to do with like the LGBTQ community, though. And so they’re very interested. And I think particularly in the last year where 38 states have anti-trans legislation on the book, like being a key data point that folks are really interested in.
ADAM MICHAEL 35:27
But I think it’s also like when I’m thinking about the differences, like, because I work in a very intersectional area, like LGBTQ community, and then East Coast, West Coast, we do have foundations that give, and individuals I give, and sometimes I’m like, hold the switch for lack of term of like, what I’m going to talk about because I have foundations and anti-trans legislation states.
ADAM MICHAEL 35:52
And so I’m like, they’re not necessarily like LGBTQ funders, right? Like, there’s only the LGBTQ funding network, there’s an official network that probably only has 30 foundations that are members.
ADAM MICHAEL 36:03
So there are not a ton of like LGBTQ-specific foundations out there. So then when I’m talking to family foundations, like I have one that’s based in Texas, and I’m always like, how do I prepare for this conversation? Right? It’s a very different conversation than the conversations I’m having with individuals and family foundations here in Northern California because it’s like we’re all like talking to ourselves.
ADAM MICHAEL 36:24
And it’s like, we’re preaching to the choir. And most of them when we bring folks from outside. It’s a different conversation. And so that’s kind of something I deal with in storage that was like, what am I sharing? How far am I going? Am I talking about the different laws that California is enacting to be pro-sanctuary and things like that versus not? Because I think that can show up in kinds of calls like tension sometimes.
RHEA WONG 36:51
Yeah! So what I’m hearing too, is really, for lack of a better term, segmenting your stewardship and knowing your audience’s bottom line. Okay, I’m gonna ask a final question for you to be future casters here. Marvin, what are you seeing as sort of the future of fundraising with your individual donors on the East Coast? What are some trends that you point to?
MARVIN VILMA 37:17
I’m really excited by the trend of things that come to mind. But I think I may have more to share after Adam Michael’s response as well. But the two things that are coming to my mind are sort of more of this trust-based community-centric approach to philanthropy.
MARVIN VILMA 37:35
I think it’s in part because of the West Coast funders who have made a bigger splash and really sort of reimagined what philanthropy can look like. And so this guide, and we always think about the effect of the gate. People seeing these highly visible philanthropists think differently about their wealth.
MARVIN VILMA 37:57
And I think that’s impacted a lot of younger individual donors who want to take this more trust-based approach and be intentional, but also give freely in a way that is unrestricted, and really provides nonprofits with the opportunity to their funds as they see fit. And so that’s exciting to me.
MARVIN VILMA 38:18
And then the second piece that I find exciting is that I think this forthcoming wealth transfer is really going to open up doors for a lot of organizations. And it’s going to force us to really be smart about partnerships, which I think is another thing that people are starting to really think deeply about, not necessarily mergers and acquisitions, although I do think that is part of this conversation.
MARVIN VILMA 38:47
But people are more and more interested. Individuals are more and more interested in how organizations think broadly about systems-level change, and systematic change, by leveraging partnerships with other organizations, leveraging corporate partnerships, and partnerships with policy organizations and legislation, legislative organizations, or communities.
MARVIN VILMA 39:12
And that’s exciting to me, because I think for too long, particularly on the East Coast. We’ve taken this very siloed, like, let me find x organization because they are doing such good work by themselves, which is just not, I think, a productive way to think about philanthropy in the nonprofit ecosystem. But I think younger folks are really thinking about how can we rethink the entire ecosystem and how it works.
RHEA WONG 39:38
That’s such a good answer. Thanks. Marvin. Adam Michael, on the last couple of minutes. Your thoughts?
ADAM MICHAEL 39:43
Yeah, for sure. I would say one of the trends that I see a lot happening here on the west coast is giving circles which is something that people really really love to hear. It gets so niche and so specific, and I’m like, wait, there’s a giving circle for that like.
ADAM MICHAEL 40:00
I’m so glad that those 10 people found each other, right? I think it’s all about building community. And what I would say is that West Coast giving is very communal. It’s very much what people talk about it. And now they don’t talk about it in a way that’s showy or ostentatious. It’s like hey, do this about this organization, the impact that they’re making.
ADAM MICHAEL 40:20
And so that’s where I think those giving circles are really becoming powerful. And particularly in northern California, if you’re based on the West Coast, and you have a very nice kind of topic or specific kind of tasks, I would start searching and thinking if there are giving circles that are doing supportive work because they probably are.
ADAM MICHAEL 40:41
And then I think, to Marvins point, one of the things that’s kind of showing up I think, more than on the West Coast is the ideal kind of what you’re talking about, but a little different, and that there’s a lot of conversations around public-private partnerships. So what is it that the government is doing to be supportive at the same time as foundations and individuals?
ADAM MICHAEL 41:00
And I think that comes from the fact that so many of our leaders in the like government, like the federal government, come from San Francisco, right? I mean, we have like the vice president that is the current speaker of the house, and one of the oldest sitting senators, right? I mean, San Francisco is just like such a hub of politics.
ADAM MICHAEL 41:23
And I think people forget about that, that we’re paving San Francisco, Northern California are always steps ahead, right? Speaker Pelosi, when she was elected was the first person to stand on the floor of the House of Representatives and say, I’m speaking or I’m Representative Pelosi, I’m from San Francisco, and I’m here to fight AIDS.
ADAM MICHAEL 41:43
That was groundbreaking at the time. And so the fact that we’re always kind of ahead of the game, I would say, and like terms of social justice, and we’re always pushing that needle like that, then be in our access to our government officials. I talk to people all the time.
ADAM MICHAEL 42:00
We have a really strong partnership with the speaker’s office. And I’m like, oh, I know their Chief of Staff personally. And when I say that in DC, or New York, people kind of take a step back. And they’re like, whoa, like the Chief of Staff. I’m like, yeah, there’s only there are less than a million people that live in San Francisco.
ADAM MICHAEL 42:16
Our adjacency to these folks is not as great as it is in other places. And because of that, I think we expect more from our elected officials. And so there’s constantly this push of like, how can we leverage state funds or federal funds to make bigger impacts of partnership?
ADAM MICHAEL 42:33
And then how do we do all that together? And I see that showing up more and more, I get questions of like, it does not question about what kind of government funding you get, but how can my gift help leverage government funding?
RHEA WONG 42:52
That was so astute, and this has exceeded all expectations I’ve had. This has been so interesting. So thank you so much to both of you. If folks wanted to get in touch with you, is it okay if I put your LinkedIn profiles in the show notes? I do, Michael., Marvin, thank you so much. And I don’t know Michael, I got to say you make West Coast fundraising seem a lot easier. Marvin, you might want to move to the West Coast.
MARVIN VILMA 43:14
I know. I’ve been having second thoughts during this entire conversation.
RHEA WONG 43:19
You could just text people for money.
ADAM MICHAEL 43:21
A lot of texting, though, and a lot of messages on your phone. I don’t know if that’s really the direction you want to go either.
RHEA WONG 43:28
Marvin likes answering midnight calls from donors. Gentlemen, thank you so much for this. it has been so much fun. Thanks to everyone. Enjoy the rest of your week. Thanks, everyone.
ADAM MICHAEL 43:38
Thank you.
MARVIN VILMA 43:39
Thanks. Bye, everyone!
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