544. How It's Built: From Grassroots Campaigning to Nurturing a Thriving Monthly Donor Base (with Katherine Lacefield)

Meet Katherine. She’s sharing the case study of how she moved from street fundraising to sustaining a group of 2,000 monthly donors🥳 She’s sharing her grassroots fundraising strategies, how to build a recurring donor program + use storytelling and engagement to build a digital community and movement. Tune in to hear how you can adapt this modern framework for your org✨

💡Learn

• The Impact + Case for establishing a monthly donor base to increase internal capacity and stability
• How to Build + Nurture a Thriving Monthly Donor Base
• Pro Tips + Lessons Learned

Today’s Guest
Katherine Lacefield (Macdonald), Just BeCause Philanthropy Consulting

Episode Highlights

• Katherine’s story and journey to where she is today (3:50)
• The Impact: what 2,000 monthly donors unlocked for this organization (10:00)
• The Playbook (14:00)
• Katherine’s Pro Tips + Lessons Learned (24:00)
• A powerful moment of philanthropy in Katherine’s life (28:00)
• Katherine’s One Good Thing: Open your eyes to collaboration. How can you build each other up? (32:00)

Learn more: weareforgood.com/episode/544

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Chapters

• 0:00 Impactful Strategies in Nonprofit Fundraising
• 10:07 The Impact of Monthly Donors
• 16:02 Effective Donor Engagement Strategy
• 23:52 Grassroots Movement and Storytelling in Philanthropy
• 30:01 The Power of Collaboration in Community
• 36:16 Just Because Podcast and Social Impact

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:52

Hi friends, welcome back to how it's Built, a series where we explore the intricate and often overlooked elements that go into crafting impactful change brought to you by our friends at Allegiance Group and Pursuant.

Speaker 2: 1:04

Yes, they're fueling nonprofit missions with innovative solutions in digital ads, websites, technology analytics, direct mail and even digital fundraising too. If you need a partner in amplifying your brand, expanding your reach and fostering that unwavering donor loyalty.

Speaker 1: 1:30

Visit teamallegiancecom and be more for the causes that improve our world.

Speaker 2: 1:35

We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.

Speaker 1: 1:43

So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

Speaker 2: 1:54

So let's get started, becky, what's happening?

Speaker 1: 1:58

I've got a big old grin on my face because our friend is here and there is nothing that brings me more joy than when we find expertise within the community from individuals who have been hanging around for quite some time and they raise their hand and they're like I know a thing or two about a thing or two and I can come in here and teach you. And so welcome to the how it's Built series. We are so stoked to have Catherine McDonald on the show today. She has been within the we Are For Good podcast ecosystem for years. Thank you, evan Wildstein, for bringing her into our world. And she's coming to us live from Mexico and I remember the day that we kind of put out the pitch for how it's built and Catherine sends me this amazing DM and kind of teases something in the LinkedIn post and then she breaks down how in the world you can go from street fundraising to sustaining 2000 monthly donors and then breaks down the playbook for me Casual.

Speaker 1: 2:58

I know it was like get in this house, share all the things. So we're going to break that down for you today through the lens of Catherine's passions, which is animal and environmental causes. But I want to give you just a little bit of background into her work. She's the founder of Just Bee Cause Consulting I'm making sure to be extremely phonetic because the be and the cause are separate in two separate words great play on words. And she just has this really unique skillset in getting people excited about fundraising strategy.

Speaker 1: 3:29

And I am so glad that there are people like you out there in the world, Catherine, and you've been so active in the nonprofit and philanthropic worlds for the last 20 years, tackling all of these unique challenges while making the process not just painless but really enjoyable for the people that she works with. She is this natural convener and mobilizing and her strengths really come out on the activism side and the fundraising side, which I think we're really going to enjoy and double click on today as well. Her background has a combination of bachelor's degree in environment and development. She's got certifications in nonprofit management and she was formerly the head of communications for a national philanthropy research network so another marketer disguised as fundraiser. So of all of her areas of genius. She really is passionate about non-human philanthropy, which she defines as animals and environmental causes, which all connect back to her vision of the interconnectedness of everything. So, Catherine, so glad to have you in this house, Glad to have your heart, let's figure this out, Welcome.

Speaker 3: 4:32

Thank you, I'm so stoked to be here.

Speaker 1: 4:35

This is your first time on the podcast, and though I feel like I have known you for years and you've been such a great, active, generative member of the community, we want everybody to get to know you. So take us back, help us get to know little Catherine, where this activism and love for animals and nature came from and how it led you to your work today.

Speaker 3: 4:52

Sure, I'd love to. So actually I have a funny story of when I started really getting involved in animal welfare. I, of course, as a little 15 year old in high school, got to watch all these horrible, slash, traumatizing PETA videos.

Speaker 3: 5:06

Oh yeah, and those from the 90s and 80s, they were so intense and I sat down my mom one day. We were we were six kids at the time so my mom's, anyways, we were six step kids. So I sat her down and I'm like, mom, I think I'm going to be a vegetarian. And at first she was like, oh, that's great, so you're going to go to school for that. And I was like what do you mean? And she's like well, you know, to be a vet, you need to go to school. I'm like, oh no, no, no, mom, not veterinarian, a vegetarian. And she was like oh no, no, no, no, no, you're not. Like it was the complete opposite reaction.

Speaker 3: 5:40

Um, so just, it was really funny. That's kind of. I started really, um, pretty young and I was very much involved sticking those stickers all over my high school and knowing the hell out of everyone. Um, and then, as time goes on, I started learning about the connection of the impact of the of the animal industry on the environment, and it just led to me developing more and more connections between those different causes. And down the line, I ended up working at the Montreal SPCA, which is the biggest animal shelter in Quebec, and so I obviously started doing somewhat fundraising just on the side through that, and that led me to working in the Animal Rights Organization, which is where I've ended up building up this, this database of 2000 monthly donors. So I got hired to be a street fundraiser and to spread awareness about the different issues that we had, get people to sign petitions and, of course, do some fundraising. So that's kind of what got me into it. Um, so, from this little 15 year old activist annoying her mom to, uh, working on the streets, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2: 6:37

I think we resonate with this because Becky and I, both independently, are raising our own little activist and I've got one vegan in the family, a couple of vegetarian kids, but it started off with getting involved in some of those messages and how it kind of shapes Food Inc was really impactful for our family too, or at least the adults in the family. So I just love that. You spoke to just kind of the little breadcrumbs that inform how we see the world and the things we pour into. So you just casually said that you're a street fundraiser.

Speaker 2: 7:02

I mean, we got to double click on this because it came up recently on the podcast, but it's not something we've really talked about for 500 plus episodes very much, but I mean with the how it's built, I mean you're going to break down your case study today of how you went from a street fundraiser to 2000 sustained monthly donors. Give us some context, Like what did that impact really look like? Like what did it look like to be a street fundraiser, and just kind of talk about what that kind of inspired for formulating this plan.

Speaker 3: 7:30

A hundred percent. So a street fundraiser we used to call them face-to-face fundraisers so in Montreal is something that is very popular and I know there's some cities that it works and some that it doesn't work so much, but it was, it's very popular in Montreal. And so basically you're literally stationed on a street corner and you say, hey, do you like to have two minutes to talk about animal welfare? And so it was really just about stopping people in the middle of the street and having these amazing conversations and of course, it's extremely stressful and most people fold it under the pressure and just because it's exhausting and being told no all the time. But I'm a social butterfly and so for me, stopping people was always something that I love doing and I always use the petition that we had as a way of breaking the ice so that people didn't feel like, oh, they're asking me for money right away. So the number one thing that I think I brought back from the street fundraising that I think is different in other contexts is that you really have to build up a personal connection before you make any form of an ask. So I would end up asking people like do you have a pet? What's their name, what's the story and, of course, slowly writing these down so that I can bring up the conversation later. But it ended up creating these amazing conversations with people in the middle of the street where sometimes we would even like literally hug each other and say that was amazing, like let's move forward from that.

Speaker 3: 8:51

You have to be obviously not scared of being told no and being willing to push the conversation. So I think the number two is you don't have a lot of time. I didn't have time to build up a relationship over three months with this person before making an ask. My job was to get it within that day, if possible within that half hour, because I have many other objectives. So for me, the second lesson I would say that was really important of learning about street fundraising is not being scared to make the ask. So if I see that the conversation is going well, of bringing it up relatively early on, of like let's be honest here, we all know I'm here to do fundraising. This is what I'm here to ask for. I'm looking for monthly donors.

Speaker 3: 9:30

We would always start with the monthly donation asks and then I wouldn't take no until they literally said no, I'm not interested, because everyone will come out with these excuses and I'm not saying that they're not real, but until they give me a hard like, no, I'm really not interested. Okay, no problem, have a great day. But if they say I don't know, I don't know if I like the monthly aspect, for me that's not a no. Do you really have to build up your what we would call our rebuttals to always have an, an, an extended like an answer? You always really want to have something to bring up so that they're not feeling like I'm saying, oh, you're ridiculous, but I'm finding solutions for them to be able to support this kind of cause.

Speaker 3: 10:07

And I always found that using humor was the best social lubricant of being able to not only have the conversation but also kind of get them to see that I'm not trying to force them into something, I'm just trying to make it fun. So, for example, comparing it to like well, I mean, everything else is monthly, like, maybe even, like you know, think about your Netflix, or maybe that Tinder application that you're paying. Or just like making it relatable, just so that people understand like it's's true, you won't second guess between spending $5.99 on this new app that allows you to do face yoga or something, but when it comes to donation, we're like, oh no, I'm scared. So, using humor and just being really honest about it was one of the number one things to do to really succeed on the streets.

Speaker 1: 10:52

Of course, authenticity, like being a human being making a human connection. I think these are all just really brilliant tips. I love that. That's where your Genesis story started. It's literally like throwing you into the lion's den and just seeing what you can learn from that experience. And then, when we look back at 2,000 monthly donors, we got to talk about that impact for a second. What can this unlock for an organization?

Speaker 3: 11:21

Well, especially for a grassroots organization. When I first started working there, this was in 2012, 2013, we were sharing an office with, I think, two other nonprofits a small office, so we had literally one corner of a desk and it was just these two people that were dedicating their whole life to this. We didn't have space to work, we didn't have our own space to keep our stuff. It was a mess. So by establishing these monthly donors, we were really able to not only hire full-time staff but get our own space that we can start organizing ourselves properly. So number one was the stability to increase our internal capacity. Number two that stability. So I was able to be hired full time, whereas before I was just a part time fundraiser. So they ended up hiring me full time to not only do the street fundraising and supervise their teams, but also start working on gaining some stability and becoming their spokesperson bilingual, which is very important as a spokesperson. In Montreal, I ended up being their spokesperson just because I was there more constantly. I knew what was going on, I wasn't shy, I could talk about what we were doing. So I remember we ended up doing this little like a media stunt where we literally our director's wife was very pregnant. She was eight months pregnant and we did a skit with this like actor who pretended she was this, this female dog, and we put her in her cage and we were doing a stunt against puppy mills, which is the forced reproduction of dogs for profit. So we were in the middle of the streets downtown Montreal with this woman, very pregnant, in a cage, dressed as a dog. Obviously that captured a lot of media attention and then I suddenly got invited to go on television. I was terrified, but I would never have been able to do that if we didn't have the sustainability that will allow me to really dedicate my time fully to the organization. So, number one, capacity. Number two is allows you to have more visibility for your cause by having sustained people that are able to work on more, bigger projects. The third thing I would say is that, giving that space that we were able to have in more longer term relationships with our staff, with volunteers, et cetera, that stability, it's ended up leading to us creating the biggest vegan barbecue in the world.

Speaker 3: 13:35

At the time, obviously, this was a while ago, but there was no world record about it officially, so it's not in the Guinness world record or anything but from what we had seen, there had never been anyone else that had done this big of a barbecue. And funny story again, the reason why it started was we were doing our calendars to send out to our monthly donors, because you need to do stewardship. So we were sending you a nice calendar with pictures that they had sent in of their animals. And we were looking at all the monthly events and every month there was like vegetarian day, vegan day, animal day, you know, all those days there was nothing in July that had anything to do with animals. So we were like, okay, let's just invent a day, it'll be the SPA's day. And so I was like, well, what about tofu day? And so me and my boss, we flipped a coin to decide if it would be the 26th, which is my birthday number, and the 27th, which is his. Flipped a coin, I won, so it's July 26th true story still happening and we decided to just give out tofu on the side of the street.

Speaker 3: 14:39

But then we started calling people and we got a donation of 8,000 tofu burgers 8,000. So we ended up creating this huge barbecue. There was a lineup of like two or three street blocks going down the corner. Everyone was lining up for these free tofu burgers and let's just say it was a huge success. Would we have been able to have the capacity to organize that entire barbecue, to invite people like those famous hockey players that are vegan that came and flipped burgers for us? Would we have been able to do that without the stability afforded by the monthly donors? No, because we would have been running just to cover our monthly expenses through one-time donations. So these are the kinds of examples of projects that can really have a lasting impact on your nonprofit that is only possible when you have the stability of, let's say, a monthly giving program.

Speaker 2: 15:28

Yeah, it just kind of like opens the gates to so much more impact. So that could be a separate how it's built. But we got to get your playbook. I mean, catherine, what you have done to bring together 2,000 monthly donors and really sustain those. I know you've got this 10 step playbook for how you did this to replicate for anyone listening today. So we got to have you walk us through this. Where would you start?

Speaker 3: 15:51

Number one when you're especially doing street fundraising, you need something other than hey, would you like to make a donation? You need something else to capture that person's attention and, ideally, their contact information. So in our case, we used an activist campaign we were doing collecting signatures against puppy mills. So number one have some form of like a lead generation tool, but on the street. So you start capturing these people's information. Because even if I was able to confirm myself two to three monthly donors a day just by being on the streets, the most power is going to be in the longer term. If you're collecting these people's information, which is what they hadn't done in the past. They were just expecting to collect them on the streets and I was like, wait a second. You need to be building up a database of your prospects instead of losing these people's information and following up with them long term. So that's what was the key transition that we did was starting to capture these people's information, even if they weren't ready on the spot Some that will be, but most will not but making sure we have a mechanism to be able to confirm them later on.

Speaker 3: 16:53

So number one some form of petition, a survey, a quiz, something that will capture their attention. Ideally, that's obviously something that's related to your cause. That'd be the best. Number two is not only creating a series of emails that you will be able to send to these people. So you have to collect their emails and then sending kind of like a welcome series, but that's specifically geared toward hey, we loved seeing you on the streets of Montreal or whatever city. Um, this is the amount of signatures we've collected so far. This is what we've allowed been able to do. These are the laws we're trying to change. Try to make a nice series of emails to keep them as informed as possible right after um signing the petition, cause that's when they're the warmest and when they're the most likely to want to support you.

Speaker 3: 17:34

What I also added on was trying to collect these contacts in different ways. So, yes, there's this street, but you can also use the same information while you have it set up, to start doing it online. If you're doing events like World Tofu Day, you can also use those events to capture the same system, so you can really maximize the efficiency of this lead generation tool to all be funneling donors towards whoever is going to be doing the follow-ups. What, then, I would do? Obviously you have to make sure these people are just getting your regular information, but for me, the transition or, like I would say, the key element that made it so that I was almost not single-handedly. I'm not going to give myself all the credit, but a lot of donors were able to be confirmed because we had one person, yours truly who was calling these people yes, the phones that exist for actually calling people which is crazy.

Speaker 1: 18:24

Yeah, it's coming back.

Speaker 3: 18:25

But, yes, I was physically calling people to update them on, hey, we loved and I even had the name of the court street corner that they were on the name of their pets I had would ask them, hey, how's Fido doing? Like, oh my God, how did you know? And I'm like, yeah, you were on the corner of Metcalf in St Catherine and they're like, it just makes them remember so much and it puts them back in that set, that mind space that they were while they were signing the petition. And then you give them an update All right, well, we have World Tofu Day coming up or whatever it is that you're working on right now. But having to re-engage them, re-get them into that mind space the second time, and that's when I was able to either confirm more donors or at least confirm one-time gifts that I then would later confirm into monthly donors. So having those phone calls I felt was much more personal than emails, because emails are so easy to ignore let's be honest, they work. But from a phone perspective I'm able to get much more personal than I could. In an email there's the energy of your voice, your intonation. You guys know, you guys manage a podcast. The power of the energy of your voice is so important. So definitely having someone to call your, your potential donors, your prospects, is very important. What I would also say not only for prospects but those who filled out the actual confirmed monthly donations call them to thank them and to make sure you have the right coordinates. Of course, if you don't have the right phone number, you're going to know that right away, but I would always confirm just making sure this is like it's a visa these are the last four digits of your card Just making sure that we had all the information that was correct, because a large percentage of these gifts had been written wrong. They switched to numbers, they didn't put the expiry date. Silly things that may would have made us lose donors that were really interested in giving, but if we call them back two months later, it's like sorry, too late, you lost your chance. So having someone that's able to confirm by phone with these people not only create more stewardship and retention rates, but will also get more donors in the door.

Speaker 3: 20:27

What I also suggest is I liked doing regular phone follow-ups so I was able to call them even if it's a month later or two, just to keep them updated. Of course, if they didn't answer. I'm not saying I would call them six times, but just having a system in place to call these donors regularly was very important. Just having a system in place to call these donors regularly was very important and with only one person, I was able to call pretty much everyone relatively frequently, because I didn't have a list of 20,000 names you know, I might've had 5,000 at the end to start managing, so I could call them relatively frequently. Something that I think was important was personalized follow-up emails, of course, as well, so making sure that not only do they get that welcome series, but that you, I would send them from my email, like from Catherine and I think that's a good pro tip.

Speaker 1: 21:09

Not just info, not just general. I am a human being speaking to you. Good tip.

Speaker 3: 21:15

I just someone just shared me a report, I think it was by Blackbot, and they were saying how those typical thank you emails that are obviously with all the images and shazazz, like okay, it's pretty, but it's so automated, right. But if I send an email that's just hey, like, hey, almost like with a mistake in it to make it feel even more authentic, but like don't do a mistake on purpose, but and I would say hey, like cute name of your dog, by the way, or something that's like really authentic, I really feel that it's the best way to engage your donors and make them feel great about what they just did. And realistically, we were a small grassroots organization. At most I was maybe confirming 10 to 15 monthly donors in a day. At like the peak, with my little team, I can send 10 personalized emails. So really that personalization, I would say, is emails Like so really that personalization, I would say, is the best. And then, following up, I'm a big fan of phone fundraising.

Speaker 3: 22:06

I had this one donor and he is a perfect example of this type of this, this example. So his wife had forced him to sign a petition, as women tend to do, and so he signs a petition. I get his number. I give him a call and he's like yeah, my wife forced me to. I'm like oh, your wife is pretty cool. Like I think I'd like her. We ended up having a half an hour discussion because he worked in the dairy industry and so we ended up having a discussion, not judgmental at all, about why we're against the dairy industry. He gives his perspective about the pressure on farmers. It just ended up being a really amazingly interesting conversation. And he's like listen, catherine, I am not an animal rights person. I'm like no, worries. Like you're maybe married to one, that's good enough for me. Um, he's like but it was so nice talking to you and you care obviously so much about it that I'm still going to make a donation because I believe in you.

Speaker 1: 23:00

Wow, see there.

Speaker 3: 23:02

And then, six months later, have a conversation, gives another donation. Six months later he ends up becoming a monthly donor. So these, I swear to God, true story. This is where the personalization and taking the time to steward is so important, especially if you're a grassroots organization and you have a smaller list. Treat them like gold. These are your people that are going to be able to sustain your mission. So that's where calling them back and just taking as much notes as possible so you can really engage your donor when you do contact them.

Speaker 1: 23:34

Catherine, I just really value so much how you broke this down in such a human way. I mean, you have shown one multi-channel. You have completely illustrated key value number six of we Are For Good, which is steward relentlessly. And this is such an interesting and palatable way to build a grassroots movement, because it's not just about the money, like you said, and that is almost like the afterthought of it. You're really giving somebody an engagement point, you're creating an experience through them and then you're remembering them. I mean this so much ties back to trend number two, which is activate the one and start a movement.

Speaker 1: 24:20

When you remember Fido's name, when you remember what corner of the street that they were on, when you remember my wife forced me to do this, these are all nuggets that humanize the experience, that created a connection point between you and another human being, and that's what we all want to see. We want to be a part of experiencing humanity with other people, and I just think conversation and story is such a driver for that. And so I'm thinking to somebody who's sitting back listening to this. They're taking their notes and they're thinking about this where would you say we need to start? Where is a really interesting place. If somebody says we're trying to build our digital community, we're trying to build our movement, a recurring giving program, anything with a big group of people, what have you seen has sort of stood the test of time, whether digital continues to evolve or what's the thing that just connects with human beings that you could give to someone else to really take this to the next level could give to someone else to really take this to the next level.

Speaker 3: 25:25

I would say anything. Of course, I am a strong, I'm an activist at heart. So petitions are great, great, great, great way of not only acquiring new people into your database, but seeing what is interesting and what's not. You'll be able to test which campaigns are capturing more attention. People will be able to share it with their own communities. You'll see the level of engagement with different campaigns of what is your community interested in. Of course, sometimes it's like, well, this is an issue that we need to defend, no matter what the community right now is interested in. But I think petitions are a great way of doing it.

Speaker 3: 25:54

And more recently, I found that you need to offer something free or like a platform where they can actually get to hear you talk. I really believe in the power of the energy of our voices. We're all frequencies and so, for me, reading things is one thing, but we're so bombarded by images and by messages that it becomes difficult. But even if it's inviting your people to a webinar or some opportunity for them to hear you speak about it and capture information and following up hey, what did you think, do you like? We would love to hear your thoughts of do you feel like we presented it well? Do you think there's any other issues that we should talk about? What do you think we should do for our next webinar? Getting people engaged in your campaigns further than just asking for a gift, I think is a great way of showing interest in them, because, at the end of the day, people don't want, they don't. They want to feel like more than just a dollar sign to you. They want to feel like they're part of you doing the actions. I've seen so many nonprofits and their communications as we, we, we, us, us, us. And yes, of course, you're doing amazing work and this is not to remove that at all, but it's just we need to think of a much larger we, of inviting people to the table to share more than just their wallets with you, but sharing their points of view. So I would say webinars these days, I find can be really interesting. Or inviting them to a talk back, or inviting them to a LinkedIn live, just seeing who's interested, and then reaching out to them, even if it's just on LinkedIn, through a DM of like hey, I saw you attended our talk. Like what did you think? There's so many opportunities that I think in the digital age, that doesn't require you to create this whole event. Um, but if you do want to go into face to-face because you're like me and you like the human interaction, you can also piggyback on other events. Try to get booths At existing events so you don't have to organize the whole thing. You can just show up.

Speaker 3: 27:51

We used to do the national or provincial. Salon des animaux was like the companion animal fair type thing. It was a whole bunch of breeders, so it was really not necessarily what we wanted, but we were the only like animal rights group there. We would get so many people and so much conversations there that we only had to be present and have these conversations and and engage in. Okay, hey, here's a QR code towards our petition or whatever it be. So if you're a small organization, piggyback on other organizations events. If possible, have digital forums where people can come and meet you, and those would be the two things that I would suggest at this current moment.

Speaker 2: 28:33

Such good process. Yeah, I feel like that's super applicable for everyone, and I loved how you really highlighted there's other ways for people to get involved besides giving, and I think that's just like such a through line and, as we kind of think about our missions, how do we create a bigger conversation, how do we get people involved in that? And storytelling is a connector to all of us, you know, and we got to bring it back to story here on the podcast and your career is really fascinating, catherine.

Speaker 2: 28:58

I mean, we've interviewed a lot of people, but your story is really unique in so many facets and I know your passion and your heart for this space to run so deep, so I want to give you space to talk about philanthropy. Is there a moment that really has moved you or stuck with you that you'd want to take us back to?

Speaker 3: 29:15

There's so many, but there's one that I think that was really pivotal when I was starting. So I was working at the Montreal SPCA and one of the sentences that I would hear the most was I hate humans. And I was like, okay, let's unpack this. You would really see like I would lock myself into the bathroom and cry many times in my five years working at the animal shelter because you do see, like these crazy horrible stories of abuse, of neglect, and, yeah, it can be very draining at some time. But I realized that we really needed to shift our perspective on that, because I'm a human, you're a human, we're both humans working to save animals, so it can't be that bad. Who's donating to our organization? Humans? Who are all the volunteers that are coming to walk our dogs every day, rain or shine, snow. Have you seen a snowstorm in Montreal?

Speaker 1: 30:11

Yeah, yeah you guys don't mess around, we do not. You get one flake here in Oklahoma and the chains go on the tires, school's shut down.

Speaker 3: 30:18

Yeah, these people are still coming with three feet of snow to walk these dogs. All the employees working there, the adopters, the foster families, the list goes on. These are all people. So I actually um little 20 year old me decided to do a little fundraiser to try to change people's perspectives about that. A little fundraiser to try to change people's perspectives about that.

Speaker 3: 30:41

So I actually made a mural, um, where I collected pictures, either at the counter while people were doing their adoptions, of, like they're in that ecstatic moment of I just adopted my puppy, the puppy's licking their face, like you know, hallmark moments. But I also engaged our foster families send us pictures of you with your foster pet, or past adopters or volunteers, and everyone was sending in their photos. And I made this big mural of all these people with their pets and in the middle there was the logo of the SPCA and people got to buy pieces of the puzzle to build the logo together, of kind of like the community, the power of community, and then there was a raffle and they won prizes for their pets. But that mural, as to my knowledge, is hopefully gone by now because it's been over 10 years, but that was in the office of the foster program for years and years, because it was a reminder of we are stronger when we're together and we need to.

Speaker 3: 31:33

Even if we're defending animals, we still need to love our fellow humans and vice versa.

Speaker 3: 31:38

We are in an ecosystem, guys, and we need to contribute to protecting all of the different causes. Even if I have a, in French we would say, I have a thing for protecting animals, but that can't be everyone's passion and we have to understand that and understand that we are all at the place that we need to be and that is okay. And it is by getting that little community of people that do care together and being strong together that that's how we're going to be able to move things forward. So it was kind of that shift of yeah, I sometimes hated humans, but the same day I was not going to be able to help anyone if I had that mentality. I needed to bring them together to have more force to move forward. So that was, I would say, one of the biggest moments that really made me shift from a perspective of collaboration, and that's kind of what led me to creating the podcast that I'm creating today around the interconnection of causes. So it was definitely a big one, even if it was almost 15 years ago.

Speaker 1: 32:36

I just literally in my mind's eye, I see little 20 year old Catherine like walking up with her huge mural and it and it tracks. Because you know, one of the last lines I read in your bio before we started was how this belief that you have in the interconnectedness of everything and I, I have to say I just agree with you and believe in that, in this ecosystem and whether it's we Are For Good or whether you're going out in your own community just the interconnectivity of us all needing each other, and that, to me, is a through line of the work. So thanks for bringing it back to that, and you've been a longtime listener, you know. The last question that we ask everyone is a one good thing and I wonder what bit of wisdom you're going to drop here for the community with your one good thing.

Speaker 3: 33:25

Well, it definitely ties back to that interconnection and the importance of collaboration. I've noticed a lot of nonprofits tend to work in silos of the other. Nonprofit is a competitor for donor dollars. But really, when you start focusing on how can we both bring each other up I'm not saying hurt your own organization to prop up someone else, I'm not saying that I'm saying how can we find a way to collaborate that will bring us both to a better point. And I have, in my opinion, a very heartfelt example of how, when we two organizations can work together, it has stronger outcomes.

Speaker 3: 34:00

So my friend who lives in Hawaii lucky, I mean, I live in Mexico, which I think is lucky too, but both lucky and he was telling me about the story of this local shelter who was having a really hard time placing animals in foster care.

Speaker 3: 34:17

And then on the other side there were a lot of foster families of children that were also having a hard time with the integration of the children to their new homes. They were feeling very isolated, abandoned, all of the social issues that come with that. So they actually partnered together where the foster families of children would also foster a kitten or a dog at the same time, and so the child had an animal that was going through the same situation as them to kind of understand the difficulty of adaptation. So they understood their foster families better and they were being more part of the responsabilization of what it takes to take care of another being, and it made it so that the transitions were going so much better and so they both organizations mutually benefited from. The humans and the children were doing much better. The shelter was having more families to take care of their pets, and then the cherry on top is you know how much more funding opportunities that opens up for the project.

Speaker 3: 35:17

How much everything that opens up, you can find funders that are interested in the human part, the animal part, the two. Just opening up our eyes to those forms of collaboration is not just about like let's do good, live in community. It's also rationally better for your own bottom line fundraising capacity.

Speaker 2: 35:39

I love that example. I love talking partnerships and that example is one for the books, like that's just so much value. Alignment vision. Catherine, thank you for coming into our house. Thanks for being part of how it's built Like. What a fascinating case study. People listening today are going to want to connect with you and the work you're doing. Tell us about your podcast that's coming up, all the things.

Speaker 1: 35:57

How can people Spill some tea on that podcast? So it's.

Speaker 2: 36:01

How can people find you?

Speaker 3: 36:02

Yeah, no problem. So I'm very active on LinkedIn. That's how we connected and that's how I connect with almost half the world, it seems so definitely. My name on LinkedIn is actually Catherine Lacefield Just got married, so legally Congrats. So you can find me there, if not. The Just Because podcast is all about the interconnection, so these kinds of stories of the social aspect connecting with the animals and environment, etc. So it's really a lot of case studies on not only just the heartfelt stories of them, but also how did it concretely help nonprofits to increase their fundraising capacity? And I'm also diving into a lot of practical advice, kind of like what we did today, of like here are top 10 things that you need to do to implement XYZ program. So it's the Just Because podcast. You can find it everywhere that podcasts can be found and, if not, if you want to go, check out my website, it's justbecauseconsulting Very simple.

Speaker 1: 36:52

Thank you, my friend, for coming on here. It's a joy to have you on the show and just so great to introduce you to the