Hello everyone and welcome to Creative Partnerships Australia’s Knowledge Series. This is the third in the series of eight Knowledge Series presentations that Creative Partnerships Australia is undertaking this year. Thank you all so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to participate in what I’m sure will be a really fabulous session. Before we begin, I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which this webinar takes place. I’m coming to you from Melbourne. 

We would certainly like to pay our respects to the Indigenous Custodians of the land, past and present. A little bit of housekeeping before we get going. Today’s webinar will be recorded and will be available to you after the session today. You should receive an email link that will take you to the webinar. If you want to go back over any of the material, you will have the opportunity to do that. We request that everyone remains on mute throughout the presentation. There will be an opportunity to ask questions later on, and I’d ask you to write those questions in the chat function towards the end. 

I’ll select a few of those questions, subject to time, that we can explore in further detail. In terms of your cameras, it would be fabulous to leave your cameras on for at least part of the presentation. I think it’s always great to get direct feedback through body language, and if any of you are nodding off, we’ll know to ramp it up a little bit. Not that I’m expecting that at all, of course. If you could keep your cameras on for at least part of the presentation, I think that helps the presenter move through things. Without further ado, I will introduce our fabulous presenter today, Tammy Zonker. 

Tammy is recognised as one of America’s top 25 fundraising experts. She’s a trainer in the discipline of transformational philanthropy, and we will hear lots more about that today. All of you understand the importance of storytelling and crafting a really powerful narrative for your organisations in the role of fundraising. Tammy is a really experienced, incredible trainer, coach and leader in the nonprofit fundraising area, having raised more than half a billion dollars in her career, including a single gift of more than US$27 million. She leads webinars, online masterclasses, private workshops and retreats, and also manages her online membership community of fundraising transformers. 

We’ve got a lot to get through in a relatively short period of time, so I will now hand over to Tammy. Tammy, thank you so much for undergoing the geographical inconvenience of being in Detroit at the moment. It’s heading towards late evening, so we’ll get started straight away. 

Thank you for that warm welcome. There’ll be no nodding off. Annabelle, Guy, Coralie, I’ve got my eyes on you. Cori’s waving. Let’s get started talking about one of my all-time favourite topics, and that is transformational experiences. How to create them for major donors so that we can touch their hearts, engage their minds and sustain their giving, hopefully for their lifetime. 

I’m a real believer that story living is about engaging the donor from their point of view. Sometimes as fundraising professionals and nonprofit professionals, we engage people through our filter. We look at them and assume that the preferences we have for engagement, cultivation and giving are the same preferences that our donors want. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it’s a really dangerous assumption because they aren’t our donors. We are their cause. If we can engage them through that lens, transformational gifts will follow. 

I’m a big believer in storytelling and engaging donors in the storytelling process. But there is a little risk with storytelling because, if we’re not careful, we regale our donors. We tell them these magnificent stories and we, the master storytellers, do all the talking. The donor is in the position of listening while I set the stage for what comes next. I’m orchestrating this. Story living, by contrast, is more of a dialogue. It’s more of a shared experience that is carefully cultivated and designed based on the donor’s preferences. 

What we’re aiming for here is to really become the donor’s third line. Forgive the crass reference, but when I say third line, I’m really talking about the end of their life. I’m talking about a typical obituary. Think about the obituaries of those that perhaps you’ve lost, people that you love. The first line is typically the family that they left behind. Married to so-and-so for so many years, how many children, their names, their spouses, their grandchildren. That’s the first line. The second line is their career, what they did for a living, how they contributed through their work. But the third line is their passion. It’s how they made a difference in the community. It’s you, hopefully. Your festival, your museum, the ballet, the theatre. It’s the work that you do day in and day out. That was their passion, their third line. 

That’s what we’re aiming to do through story living. Help the donor write the story of their life so that at the end of their life your organisation played such a key role and it’s very apparent. That’s where we’re headed with story living. This is all based on a study that resulted in a book called The Seven Faces of Philanthropy. A little show of hands. How many of you have read the book or heard of the book? Not too many. We’re going to spend quite a bit of time understanding these seven personas from a 50,000-foot view, and then over the next 75 minutes or so, we’re going to drill down into these personas, focusing mostly on four of the seven personas that are more likely to gravitate to the arts. 

You probably have donors who are giving to you already right now who represent the breadth of all seven personas. What I’m talking about today is the personas in which you are likely to have a deeper concentration. The more you understand this, the more you’ll be able to engage donors on their terms. 

Let me go back a moment and talk about the high level. Starting with the most predominant persona, which the authors and researchers called the communitarian, and I’ve nicknamed the do-gooder. They represent 26% of the donors interviewed during this study. The next highest concentration is what we call the devout. They are giving because they feel called to give by God, the universe or whomever they recognise as a higher power. Next is the investor at 15%. This person is looking for a return on their investment. 

Next, we have the socialite at 11%. The repayer is someone who has a passion for the arts. The arts have touched their heart somewhere in their life, and you are their third line. The repayer is at 10%, the altruist at 9% and the dynast at 8%. You’re going to learn more about all of these, with a particular focus on the four that really do gravitate to the arts. 

For each of these seven personas, the researchers identified the philanthropic point of view. If there was a one-sentence orientation to how this persona relates to philanthropy, what would it be? They explored how each persona evaluates and selects a nonprofit to support, and what their recognition and stewardship preferences are. Do they like lots of recognition? Are they more modest in their giving? Based on that knowledge, how can we guide the donor journey from their point of view? 

One of the things I’ll tell you is that when you understand your donors from this perspective, it builds trust and accelerates the time in which you begin seeding the idea for a gift. It accelerates the time in which you secure that gift. Steven mentioned that I had the privilege of cultivating a US$27.1 million gift in Detroit from a company while they were in bankruptcy during the US Great Recession, so all the odds were stacked against us. That’s a story I’ll tell you another day. But I can tell you that gift, from the moment we met to when that gift was secured, was six months. 

Part of it was knowing the persona and what the donor wanted, and where they wanted to go with their philanthropy. All of this is to say that we want to work with the donor side by side to co-author their story. 

Let’s talk about those philanthropic views. The communitarian believes that doing good makes sense. It’s logical. The devout believes doing good is God’s will. The investor believes doing good is good business. The socialite believes doing good is fun, or it should be fun if you want them to stick around. The repayer is doing good in return. They have this passion. They’ve had heart-stirring, soul-touching experiences with the arts and they want others to have those experiences as well. The altruist believes feeling good feels right. That orientation is very heart-centred, compared to the communitarian where it is logic-centred. The dynast believes doing good is a family tradition. You will often see generational philanthropists who identify with that persona. 

You, as the brilliant nonprofit professional and fundraising guru that you are, are going to ask yourself the following questions as you think about a donor, a donor company, a couple, or perhaps a company that you’re cultivating for an investment in your organisation. You want to really evaluate how you share values. Are the donor’s beliefs and values a match for your organisation’s beliefs and values? Philanthropy is nothing more than an exchange of values. As you cultivate this particular individual, how will you measure impact and report impact, or explain the impact of their giving? 

How do you demonstrate the need in your community? Why is your arts organisation as relevant as basic-needs organisations, hunger, literacy and all of those things? Because you are, but on a different plane. How can this donor experience your work up close and personal? How can we determine and confirm the donor’s preferences and how they evaluate you, and make certain that we are laying out the steps the donor will inevitably go through so we can anticipate them? 

Penelope Burk, who was the author of Donor-Centred Fundraising and Donor-Centred Leadership, says that in North America, of the 30,000 donors who respond to her survey every year, major donors convey that it takes about two years for them to trust us enough to make their most generous gift. If we can anticipate those needs and plan them as part of the donor journey, we will accelerate the securing of that gift. 

Question number six I want you to think about is: beyond money, how can this donor contribute to the solution, whatever solution you’re working on? Whether it’s expanding a program, making the festival even larger, or whatever need you are trying to fill, donors don’t want to be just a source of money. They are not automated bank machines. They have other experiences, influence and expertise they can contribute. The more we engage the whole donor beyond their financial support, the deeper the relationship, the higher the donor retention, and the more likely they will become lifelong donors. Then you have a shot at being that third line in their final story. 

Of course, what appropriate stewardship and recognition will you propose for this donor? Because not everyone wants the same kind of recognition. 

Now we’re going to go a little deeper. We’re going to focus on our communitarians. This is the highest concentration of major donors, representing 26% of all major donors, and their whole philanthropic orientation is that doing good makes sense. How they evaluate you is how effective you are in your programs. They are probably looking at overhead. They are looking at how much of your operating budget goes to administration or fundraising. They may be measuring you based on how many people come through your venues, how many patrons you have, how many donors you have, or however they define effectiveness. That is their number one selection criteria when choosing a nonprofit. 

The communitarian typically prefers restricted giving to make a big impact. They want a substantial project, not just unrestricted operating funds. They typically like individual attention and public recognition, but just within a key donor group. They don’t want a billboard or a front-page thank you in the local newspaper. They want something more modest within key audiences that they value. 

When you’re talking to a communitarian, there are certain phrases they will use, such as “that makes sense” or “what kind of measurable difference will this gift make?” They’ll ask about your collaborations with other nonprofit partners or perhaps school systems, but they love collaboration. As I’m describing each of these seven personas, I want you to make a note as specific donors come to mind. For those of you who have a very small donor pool but a long list of prospective donors that you’re getting to know, jot those names down. You’re going to begin to identify which persona your donors or prospective donors most resonate with during tonight’s or this morning’s session. 

They might talk about every child deserving this, or the community needing that. If they will allow you, and they appreciate it, you can feature them and their philanthropy if it motivates others to give. They’ll also ask, “Who are your other top supporters?” 

Now we’re moving on to the devout. They represent 21% of the donors surveyed in this research project. As I said, doing good is God’s will. Essentially, they give unrestricted gifts based on their relationship with that religious leader. I’m not sure this really resonates with most arts organisations, but I want you to have the breadth of all seven personas. They are very modest and conservative when it comes to recognition. They would never want their gift announced broadly, but maybe within a very small group of the religious leaders they align themselves with. 

They’ll say things like, “We are called to make this gift.” Any reference to faith or moral obligation is a signal. They will often pray about their giving decision. If you make an ask, they may say, “I’m going to pray about that.” I usually think, “I’ve been praying about that.” I don’t say it. 

Next comes our investor. In my experience, as we come out of times that have been economically challenging, I feel like there’s a higher percentage of people who get that investor mindset. From the research study, these investors are about 15% of the major donors surveyed, and their whole philosophy is that doing good is good business. 

I can demonstrate that my company is a leader in this community. I’m going to create consumer affinity. I’m going to be able to attract great employees. I’m going to retain my best employees because they’ll feel a sense of pride that they work with an organisation that gives to the arts and values the community. This particular persona, the investor, is going to do their own research. They are on your website. They are looking at your financials. When it comes to recognition, they like to be seen as a leader within other businesses, especially in their sector. 

You’ll hear them say things like, “How will you leverage my gift with others?” Maybe in a matched gift scenario or a challenge gift scenario. Notice that’s different from the communitarian, who says, “How will my gift motivate or inspire others?” These investors are business people. They’re entrepreneurs. They’re executives inside companies, and they like leveraged money. You can maximise that to secure more gifts and larger gifts. They might ask, “Who manages your investments? How have they performed?” 

I secured a US$525,000 gift from an investor who wanted 10 years of financials and 10 years of investment performance. I had had three CEOs or CFOs in that time period. This was like going back to drawings on cave walls for me, but I did it and the gift came. They’ll ask, “Who else is giving at this level?” They are all about impact and outcomes. 

Next, we have our socialite. While I had this illustrated as a woman, there are male socialite personas as well. Think about football teams. There are clubs where friends gather. Those are male socialites, and females as well. The socialite represents 11% of the major donors surveyed in this research study, and their whole orientation is that doing good is fun. The cause needs to be acceptable and approved by their social network. They like hands-on involvement. They want to volunteer. They want to be in the know. 

If they leave you a voicemail and you don’t call them back in 10 minutes, they assume you’ve been in a terrible car accident. They want prompt attention. Take care of these people. They love public acknowledgement. Earlier in my career, I learned very quickly and the hard way that you need to guide their recognition and acknowledgement. 

Let’s say you secured a $10,000 gift, or even a $1,000 gift. It’s all relative to the scale of your organisation. If you said to a socialite, “How would you like to be recognised?” they might say, “I’d like my name on your building.” We might need to add a few more zeros to that number for them to get their name on the building. But they love public acknowledgement. You need to carefully guide what is appropriate related to the value of that gift. 

You will hear the socialites saying things like, “This should be fun,” “Can I bring my friends?” or “What does everyone else want to do?” They are very creative. They may say, “I have ideas,” and sometimes you’re thinking, “How am I going to make that idea happen?” But they are creative, and if you can work with them and guide them, it can be a really beautiful relationship. 

Next, we have our repayer. They like doing good in return. They likely fell in love with the arts years ago. It touched their soul in some way, and they want to make certain that those art experiences are available to other people regardless of their circumstances. They like to get to know your people, your beneficiaries, your performers, or the students in your classes, however appropriate. They want to be close to the mission delivery. They only like recognition if it helps inspire or benefit one of the people you are serving or one of the artists. 

You’ll hear them say things like, “I understand their passion. I feel that same passion.” They’ll ask, “Do you have any mentoring opportunities?” Or, “I see myself in so-and-so,” perhaps someone they met through a program, maybe a young author or a young artist. If we were going to rename the repayer, we might rename them the relator. 

Then we have the altruist. This is 9% of all major donors who participated in the study. They believe that to whom much is given, much is expected. If you have a little, give a little. If you have a lot, give a lot. They make decisions based on the quality of your executive leadership. In your case, it may be your creative director. Quality is defined by them, but they want a direct relationship with those who are key influencers in your organisation. 

They like to be quietly influential. They may not want to serve on your board, but they want to have the ear of board members. They want to have influence in that way. They like being low-key, so they do not like formal recognition. You’ll hear them say things like, “I want to be totally anonymous,” or, “This is my life’s work.” You might acknowledge them for their generosity and they’ll reply, “Your staff do the hard work. Giving money is easy. That’s my honour.” 

They’ll ask questions about your creative director, CEO or executive director. How long have they been in the job? What was their background? Where did they go to school? You get the sense of that altruist. This is the purest kind of philanthropist. They are giving just out of the pure joy of giving and feeling that is what you should do. 

Then we have the dynast. This is the smallest percentage of major donors who participated in the survey at 8%, and their whole orientation is that doing good is a family tradition. You’ll find that they are extremely cautious because their family name is associated with this gift. They don’t want to tarnish their family name by making a gift that will later embarrass them or be part of a scandal. They do a lot of due diligence, and not by themselves. They will have their attorney involved when we talk about significant gifts. They’ll definitely call in advisers, maybe their attorney or maybe their financial adviser. 

I’ve been on three-way calls with the banker, the financial adviser and the family foundation lead, all trying to get to a gift agreement. There is lots of work up front, but it is always worth it. After that, they are pretty low maintenance. They are like, “Just do your work. Don’t make a fuss about me.” 

You’ll hear them say things like, “I’ll share your proposal with my adviser,” or, “We will need to pre-approve any recognition.” You cannot even send out a press release without them approving it first in writing. I’ve had them say to me, “Do you have a standard gift agreement?” Then, without taking another breath, they’ll say, “Never mind. Let’s use ours.” They are very much in control of their philanthropy. They’ll ask for lots and lots of upfront information, but then they are easy after that. Come to agreement, send me an outcomes report within nine months, and I’m good to go. 

That’s an overview of the seven personas. Now what we want to do is ask how this really applies to arts and culture organisations. I want to recognise that some of you are very large national organisations, and you may have a very robust donor database to work from. Some of you may be micro-organisations or grassroots organisations, where you have just a handful of donors and you are really seeking to build your donor database and build a groundswell of support for your organisation, your festival, your theatre group or your museum. Some of you are somewhere in between. 

What we’re going to cover next is all relative. It’s all scalable. For some of you, a major gift is $1,000. For some of you, a major gift is $50,000. It doesn’t matter as it relates to these donor personas because people are people. I want you to know that. 

If you look at all seven personas, there are really about four that you very likely have inside your organisation. Not that you don’t have a devout or one of the other personas that we’re not going to do the deep dive on. You may. But if you look at the majority of the major donors or major donor prospects in your communities, most of them probably fit inside these four. We think that in 75 minutes this is going to be the most valuable thing for you to know. The first one is the communitarian, followed by the investor, then the socialite and then the repayer. 

What we’re going to do next is talk about some specific organisations. I’ll share a few examples, and then we’re going to walk through how we might engage all four of these arts and culture personas within those organisations. You probably will have great ideas, even more than I’m going to be sharing. Jot these down. What would you do, knowing your programs the way that you do? What would you do to engage these different personas? 

If there’s an overarching message about our friend the communitarian, it is that communitarians give to the arts as their way of paying civic rent. They believe in the arts and they believe that the arts should be accessible to everyone. This is not an exclusive kind of organisation. They really believe it should be inclusive of your entire community, particularly those who might be disadvantaged, or perhaps schools that aren’t offering as robust arts and culture opportunities in their school systems based on funding or whatever the situation is. 

As we talk through some of these examples, remember that doing good makes sense for the communitarian. They like organisational effectiveness. They prefer restricted gifts. Those restricted gifts could start small and grow over time. They like individual attention, not lots of public attention, just individual attention or recognition within small groups. 

The overarching message about our investors is that investors understand that having a community rich in art and culture attracts families and businesses. The arts and culture are good for business. They help showcase this organisation or this company as a leader in the community. They are hoping that, because of that, you will choose their product or service. They are hoping that leadership will attract new employees or retain the best of their employees because of pride in their association and pride in their employer. 

They want a return on that investment. One of the articles I read on the Creative Partnerships Australia website really talked about how corporations don’t necessarily give to you because they want the arts. They are not giving to the arts. They are giving to reach your supporters and patrons. They want those customers. That’s fine. As long as they’re giving and it’s helping us grow and bring art and culture to the masses in our community or nationally, it’s all good money. It’s all to a good end. 

They want good return on investment in their contributions. They want impact reporting. They want to know how many people clicked through and saw their logo, how many people attended that event where they were presenting sponsor, or how many flyers went home to school children that had their logo as the presenting sponsor for this particular youth program. That’s what they want to know, and that’s how they justify making an investment. 

I will tell you that US$27.1 million gift, the executive I worked with was a communitarian, but he used an investor mindset to justify a US$27.1 million gift to his board of directors. Understanding these motivations is really key. 

Next we have our socialite. Socialites want to see their gifts in action. They are hands-on people, and they love gathering with friends and neighbours to engage in the arts and to support your organisations. For them, giving is fun. You have to be approved by their social network, as a really acceptable, fun and exciting organisation and charitable cause. They want prompt attention. They want to be in the know. They want to be the VIPs who get all the insider information before anybody else. 

They love public recognition. Then there’s our repayer. They simply love the arts. They feel deeply connected to the artists and creative expression based on personal experiences. I worked with an executive once who gave very generously to the arts, and I asked him why. He said, “I cannot carry a tune. I could not act my way out of a brown paper bag. I have no artistic ability at all.” He was a Silicon Valley technology executive. 

He said, “I was that awkward kid and I wasn’t a jock. I didn’t belong there and I didn’t have any talent, so the arts were not an obvious fit for me. But what I found was that I could help behind the scenes. I could run the lights. I could set up the set for my school theatre. It was there that I found community. It was there that I found a place where I could belong. I want every kid to belong somewhere. That’s why I fell in love with the arts and I give to the arts.” 

There’s always a story behind generosity and charitable giving. For the repayer, it could be that they fell in love with a particular performance, that they fell in love with music, or that they found a community of warm, accepting and loving people through the arts. It can be for a number of reasons, but there’s always a reason. Your job is to figure out what that reason is. 

Let’s talk about some examples. In Detroit, where I’m from, last fall during the pandemic, the Michigan Opera Theater did a special drive-through performance. We were not allowed to gather. They couldn’t open their doors. Their stage was dimmed. But what they did, with the help of Ford Motor Company as presenting sponsor, was a performance of Twilight: Gods. They took the Detroit Opera House parking garage, and every floor of the parking garage had a 10-minute performance of a scene from Twilight: Gods. It was free. It was a drive-through, and it was completely free. 

Let’s break that down and take a look at how I would engage each of those four personas in this experience, based on what we know about them. I’m going to give you some eye candy here. This was soprano Christine Goerke and she played Brünnhilde. People would drive through, and she sang in a way that could move you to tears. Here we see some students from Wayne State University who participated in the performance on the second floor, and they’re dancing. It was exquisite. Here’s poet Marsha Music, who is a very well-known poet in the city of Detroit and a writer. She was playing Erda. 

People would drive through, they would pause, and she would repeat this performance. There were families, seniors and vanloads of children. So, how would you engage the communitarian in that drive-through experience? I’ve brainstormed some ideas. You will think of ideas as well, so write those down. Think about this as a performance that you might do. It doesn’t need to be a pandemic performance on five floors of a parking garage. It can be on your stage. You’re way ahead of the US in terms of recovery. I hope we catch up soon. 

For a communitarian, I would invite them to attend a performance with a group of school children or a group of senior citizens. Remember, they really believe that the arts should be accessible to everyone. How can I showcase that accessibility for groups of people who may not have access? Again, children, youth, senior citizens, and maybe members of a community that experiences disadvantage, has a low income, or finds transport to your venue a challenge. 

I might approach them to sponsor a special group to participate in this drive-through opera experience, or for you, a performance on one of your stages. Ask the children or seniors who participated to send a note of thanks. What did it mean to them? How did it feel? How were they inspired? You could even do a short little video if you chose. We have these amazing video cameras at our fingertips these days. I don’t think these videos need to be professionally generated. There’s nothing like a good, heart-touching, organic video sent by text or email. Give them that opportunity. 

A lot of us think some older supporters might not be very tech-savvy. The truth is the most recent studies say they are more and more tech-savvy, and they got that way because we were in shutdown and it was the only way they could get access to their children or grandchildren. They learned quickly, and now that we’re moving out of the pandemic, they’re taking those technology skills with them. Don’t underestimate the value of technology for all age groups. 

The key is that for this communitarian, we want to showcase how diverse community members and special groups have access to the arts. In this case, how they had access to the drive-through event. We can text pictures or videos to showcase the big smiles at the end as people exit that parking garage. We can also leverage this opportunity to showcase community collaboration. Remember how the communitarian wants to see collaboration? Think about how the opera house collaborated with Wayne State University dance students. They collaborated with Detroit public schools, which were doing distance learning, to make certain families knew about this free opportunity to experience the opera. 

Can you see where we’re going with this? This is what I want you to begin thinking about for your organisations, for each of these personas. How could you engage them in ways that were game changers and transformational? I’ll tell you another story in a little bit when we get to the ballet story. 

Let’s talk about the investor. How might we engage the investor in that drive-through opera experience, or your version of getting people to the stage? The investor is all about how we do good business. How do I get my brand out there in front of consumers in a way that creates consumer affinity, employee loyalty and employee attraction? Ford Motor Company did a brilliant product placement at that event. Having that Mustang out there, it was the 10 millionth Mustang off the line. Kind of cool. 

If you offer valet parking at a venue, there could be a corporate sponsor or supporter who gets to leave a leaflet in the car. Even a bottle of water with their logo is a nice takeaway, and it is very inexpensive. Frankly, they should pay for it as part of their sponsorship. 

These investors also want to engage with other executive leaders. They want to be in that peer group with them. You could plan a pre- or post-performance reception, even just 30 minutes, where they get to rub elbows. There is a very short recognition, so they get that verbal recognition within their peer group, which is one of the things that motivates them. 

You can provide a digital stewardship report after the event about how many people came to the performance, how many of them were children, and include some photos and short videos. They can use that as a return on investment in terms of brand exposure and documentation of exposure. They can cut and paste from it and post those things on their own social media channels. They might say, “So proud to support the Australian Ballet.” They could post it on their company intranet so their employees see first-hand how their employer cares about this community. 

Also recognise them through your channels where your patrons and other business leaders will see their leadership. Whether that’s social media or a press release, you decide how you want to do it and what makes the most sense. A little recognition in this manner is really low cost or no cost, and it means a lot to the investor persona. Also recognise them on your website with their permission, through logo placement recognition. Here’s why. This is the persona that does their own research before they give to you. They are all over your website already, so they’ll see the recognition and the logo placement, and they will feel good about it. 

Let’s talk about the socialite. How would we have engaged them in this drive-through opera example? First, include them and their friends, social club, circle, sorority, book club, or whatever group they feel most connected to, in the planning of a component of the event. Don’t invite them to plan the whole event because you will lose control. They are so creative and hands-on that it can get out of control. Instead, pick a project. 

For example, at the end, as families are leaving the performance in the parking garage, we want the children to have a takeaway gift if they have children with them. I found Pavarotti’s favourite children’s songs, a little CD or a book about opera. Maybe there’s a little packet that children get to take home. Maybe we’ve planted a seed, ignited a spark and a love for the opera, and as families go home, they can nurture that new interest. 

That’s an ideal project for the socialites. They will go out, find the goodie bag items, probably give them in kind, package them up in a cute little tote, and gladly hand them to all the cars with children on the way out. Or even seniors who say, “My grandchildren would love this.” Give them a component, a small manageable project that’s fun. It has to be fun. If there’s a component of this, like giving out the books, and then you need to shift all the boxes, assign the shifting to someone else because that’s not fun and you won’t get them back. 

Take lots of photos of this group working together and making a difference. Share it on social media. Send them to the press. Try to get the press. Even print photos and tuck them in a handwritten note and mail them to all of the socialites who participated, or at least the organisers. Can you see how you could do some of these things in your organisation? It would make a difference. 

How would we engage the repayer? Invite the repayer to a rehearsal or another behind-the-scenes experience where they get to meet performers, the creative director and any special groups. They make great guides or docents because they love the arts. They are so passionate, and that passion is contagious. You may have walked in liking the art. Spend 10 minutes with a repayer and you’re over the moon in love with the arts. Engage their special talents and learn their story. 

Maybe it is the executive from Silicon Valley who built sets, and this is a nostalgic opportunity to lend a hand this one time on this one project. Whatever their talents are, leverage those, and you’ll see nostalgia and patriotism are key motivators for giving. 

Let me introduce you to Steven Polk. Steven Polk is a businessman in Detroit. He is a fifth-generation CEO of this company. The founder was his great-grandfather, right in the US Civil War. He went to college and got his undergraduate degree in biology, was getting his master’s, and was doing an internship in forestry and birds. He loves birds. 

His family tapped him and said, “Your father is not well and we need you to come take over the family business.” The family business at that point in time was $200 million in debt. He did not want to do it. It was not his passion or his love. But he did it. Under his leadership, they eventually sold that company for $1.2 billion. He served on the board of the Detroit Zoo. As part of that board service, he knew they really wanted to create an Antarctic exhibit. They wanted to have a penguin display. 

The executive director said, “What if we took a trip to Antarctica to observe penguins in their natural habitat?” Steven said, “I think we should do that. In fact, I’ll pay for the trip. Let’s go.” You can guess the end of the story. They returned from that extraordinary transformational experience and developed a plan for a $20 million penguin exhibit. Steven and his wife, Bobby, made a $10 million gift to that exhibit. In short order, other foundations and other leaders came on board. Incredible. 

Here is the quote. They were featured in a lot of publications, but I lifted this quote from an article in DBusiness. In the interview, Steven said, “The two of us are really happy that we could make this happen. It was a great intersection of personal interest, family interest, and I think a chance to really do something special for our community. When I looked at potential givebacks to the local community, I don’t think there’s anything quite like a zoo.” 

What persona do you think he is? A communitarian. Even though he’s a business executive and has that return-on-investment mindset as a learned behaviour, his innate behaviour is communitarian. The potential giveback to the community. It was all about community. In a private conversation I had with him, he said, “Tammy, we just didn’t know where else we could make a gift that would touch more than a million children a year and put a smile on their face.” 

That penguin exhibit is a local treasure. You in Australia have so many extraordinary national and regional treasures as well. I wanted to talk through this. There’s the Harley School of Astronomy, and they are doing an annual scientific meeting. It’s coming up in July, not far from now. That’s a pretty incredible opportunity to engage some supporters. 

You have Scienceworks, which is a children’s museum in Melbourne. They help children explore STEM: science, technology, engineering, maths and music. Oz Kids cultivates and encourages children and youth to write stories and poetry and create art. They hold contests and provide mentoring. It is incredible. 

Then I found this trip to the Tiwi Islands, to go through the Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre. You get off the ferry and come onto the island. There is some kind of smoking ceremony, which I’m assuming is like a smudge kind of thing. Then you learn about the culture and the textiles, and you actually create your own screen printing of this textile and get to take it home. I think it is extraordinary. They have Elders there who share stories and folklore of the region. I think it would be incredible. 

When we think about any of those national and regional treasures, how would you engage a communitarian? You could have them and their families participate in some experience, maybe even with a diverse community of members, because they want these experiences available to everyone. It could be being at the astronomy annual meeting as a major donor with a family member. Maybe you’re stargazing at something that happens once a year, or maybe you’re hearing from an expert about some planetary topic. This is not my wheelhouse, but I love the stars. They’re beautiful. Even if you’re not into the science of it, it would be extraordinary. 

If you’re with Oz Kids, a communitarian could serve on a panel of judges for a poetry slam or one of the art or creative writing contests. No one wants the pressure of being the only judge, so put them on a panel. Otherwise everyone will win first place. You could include them as a chaperone on a cultural field trip. You could invite them to a mission tour. 

I really encourage all of you to create a mission tour. One hour. There’s a standing first Thursday of every month at noon, and you take people on a life-changing, heart-stirring tour of your mission. Not the venue. Not, “Here’s the copy room. Here’s the computer lab.” That’s dull. Instead, show them, “Here’s the stage. Here’s the green room that people never really see. Here are all the sets.” I remember once touring the parade company, where they literally store all the parade floats, mannequins and big heads. I never wanted to leave. It was incredible. 

You could also invite them to a town hall. Town hall implies everyone, open to everyone, versus other personas who would prefer a VIP reception. Start thinking about how you can add on to what you’re already doing with just a little more work to really have an exponential result in your fundraising. 

How would we engage the investor in any one of those experiences that we just talked about? This is really straightforward. If this is an engineering, construction, mining or technology company, there’s a direct alignment with the engineering and science museum for children. Match their corporate social responsibility charter and its areas of focus, and see how that maps to the work that you’re doing. Walk them down that path. 

Co-create workplace mentoring or internship programs. They want a workforce for the future. The more that we can seed employees with a passion for the skill sets that this employer will need down the track, the better. Again, we talked about digital stewardship reports, things they can cut and paste to include on their intranet or social media channels to showcase to your community the great ways they give back. 

For this group, invite that executive leadership team on the mission tour. Invite them to an exclusive porch talk or VIP gathering with a dozen other leaders to talk about how you’re coming out of the pandemic, what’s next for you, what the big challenge is, and what big need you’re working to solve. That insider conversation lets them contribute. They might say, “Have you considered this?” or “Have you considered that?” When people give ideas, whether those ideas are put into action or not, and when they feel valued, their philanthropy will likely follow. 

Next, socialites. How would we engage them? Again, invite them and their circle of friends as volunteers at your art camp, science camp, astronomy camp or theatre camp. They love that. They can even have a little project. They could serve lunch or refreshments at the poetry slam or at the creative writing contest. Remember, they are not the clean-up crew. They are the crew that serves with big smiles. Don’t have them shifting boxes and wiping down the counters afterwards. Have another crew for that, like a repayer who will do anything to help. 

Include them as potential chaperones if you’re doing travelling performances, field trips or excursions. These socialites love lots of attention, so print those photos and send them with handwritten notes. Text them, or use whatever their preferred mode of communication is. Feature them in your newsletter or e-newsletter. Interview the leader of that group, and then invite them and their friends on a special mission tour just for them. Again, super special. 

Here’s our repayer. If your repayer has a story about coming up through the arts, about how the arts shaped him or her, about how the arts were really the seed of their success in life, have them come in and share their story with your young performers or emerging artists. Be that source of encouragement and inspiration for them. 

You can also engage them as volunteers in a STEM activity, if you’re at the children’s science museum, or as a writing or theatre coach. They are also great participants on a panel of judges, chaperones or mission tours, or invite them to observe a programmatic event. Whether it’s a behind-the-scenes kind of thing or something not everyone would have access to, they love to be close to where the mission is being delivered, and they like to be behind the scenes supporting. They are very selfless and it brings them joy to engage with you in that way. Those are some of my suggestions. 

Let’s talk about the Australian Ballet. Holy smokes. Truly a national treasure. This was a photograph from when they introduced their new creative director, David Hallberg. He is front and centre there with the principal dancers flanking him to the right and the left. That is a milestone and an opportunity to really engage or re-engage some of these four personas, particularly the communitarian, the socialite and the repayer, because they like being close to the source of the creation. 

Of course, the Australian Ballet not only has classes for youth and children, but they do a post-show Q&A. I’m wondering if any of you have participated in one of these. Steven has for certain. It has to be extraordinary. 

My very first fundraising job was director of development for the Girl Scouts, or for you, Girl Guides. We took a group of Girl Scouts of all ages, from the very beginners to the more senior Girl Scouts, to a performance of The Nutcracker. I brought along a few of my top donors, and it was magical because the donors and I sat at the very top point of our section, and all the girls sat in front of us. Throughout the performance, you saw their little arms rise into a pirouette. It was as if I was watching the girls more than the performance, and our donors were too. 

Have your donors come and experience this. It is always endearing and sometimes hilarious when children ask questions. I remember at that same job we brought in Dr Sally Ride, who was the first American woman in space, and we had this STEM program with the local university. The local university was bringing in Dr Ride, but we had a special bagel and coffee reception with Dr Ride and some of our donors, and some of the university’s donors that brought her in. Then she did a talk followed by Q&A about breaking through the glass ceiling in the 70s when she was an astronaut. 

Some of the older youth would ask, “How did you break through the glass ceiling? What gave you the courage? What was your inspiration?” Then there was a little girl, probably the age of this beautiful little girl featured here, and she raised her hand bravely and said, “How do you go to the bathroom in space?” It was so sweet. You’ll have the same experience if you can invite some of your donors to participate in any kind of Q&A, or any kind of engagement with the youth. 

Here’s a beautiful video. I want to emphasise the extraordinary impact of video, whether you’re showcasing your work with youth or children, or showcasing the legacy of some of your artists. I’m going to share this. Hopefully, you’ll be as inspired as I was. 

Today we did a workshop with the Australian Ballet. It was really inspiring seeing those dancers. One day, I think I would like to do something like that. I’ve never done ballet before. A lot of them are quite shy about doing anything in front of anyone. It’s really tricky sometimes to engage these kids. Today, to see within the first five minutes kids getting up and participating was incredible. It’s something that doesn’t happen often in Bourke. We unfortunately don’t get as many opportunities as we’d like to, but having the Australian Ballet come is one of the bigger opportunities that we can get without having to travel around. 

It will help me when I’m playing footy. I learnt that your spine has lots of little bones in it. It’s easier to breathe when you’re up straight. When I’m older, I would like to be a choreographer. When they came in, it helped me learn different motifs and ways to choreograph dancers. It was very interesting to learn about all the different jobs at the Australian Ballet. I didn’t know they had so many things you could do there. This task we did, we had to make our name out of movements with our bodies. The process was actually really quick. I usually struggle with improvisation in classes, but what we did today in the workshop really helped me. 

Today is going to be very exciting because I’m going to the ballet performance at the library, especially the part of their performance from Plain Jane that they do touring around with all the different schools. I really enjoyed learning the different movements that the King and Plain Jane did that work well together in the show. By the end of the workshop, we had children who barely speak to me, let alone to the rest of the class, performing in front of others, which was beautiful. 

I also loved hearing their personal experiences. It made me feel really good. I kept falling over while we were spinning, but Ben said, “Don’t worry, I’ve fallen over heaps of times.” The dancers were very helpful and they kept saying to us, “Keep trying and you’ll get better and better.” It was really encouraging to hear that a professional dancer still makes mistakes. Their stories were inspiring and showed that we are not the only ones who feel this way, so we connected with them. I hope I could do this again next time. It makes me more free, and words can’t really describe it. 

Obviously, an incredibly inspiring video. Just know that the point I want to make is that the value and power of video does not have to be as beautifully produced as that video was. It can be more organic and still just as meaningful. For some of your donors, especially if you’re a smaller organisation with fewer resources, a highly produced video might actually have them questioning whether you are spending money in that way. The more organic, I think, sometimes the more endearing. 

Here’s another video that I love. This features a retired prima ballerina who obviously has some health issues now and who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Think about the beauty of sharing something like this with your supporters. 

I’ve probably watched that 20 times and I’m just as moved and inspired by it every single time. How might we engage our communitarian in the ballet experience in this example? Obviously, invite them to attend with a group of school-aged children or youth, maybe seniors or someone experiencing disadvantage. Give them the opportunity to sponsor that group. That can be a very meaningful first gift or next gift for some of your communitarians. 

Leverage this opportunity to showcase community collaboration. We’re working with this school that has had big cutbacks in its arts program, or has never had funding for its arts program. We’re working with this children’s centre, which provides mental and behavioural health services to children who have experienced abuse or neglect, or who have developmental delays. We feel exposure to the arts would be so enriching for them. Invite them to that post-performance Q&A, the behind-the-scenes tour, and to your version of the Hallberg conversation. 

The creative director of the Australian Ballet holds sessions like conversations with the creative director. How powerful, and what a privilege to be able to participate. 

Next, of course, we have our investor. The investors are pretty straightforward. It’s a lot of the same things we talked about previously. For socialites, engage them. Give them behind-the-scenes exclusivity. Invite them to your version of the Hallberg conversations, just with their group, or engage them in third-party fundraisers. Have their friends come together to do a fundraiser with them. It might be a peer-to-peer fundraiser to support your scholarship programs. 

With our repayer, the closer they can get to the artists, the happier they’ll be, or to youth and inspiring that love of the arts. Inviting them to some of the same behind-the-scenes activities will be a real winner. 

The question I ask you is: how will you make giving to your organisation one of the most meaningful experiences of your donor’s life? That is really what this is about. I want to recognise and honour you, and distinguish the privilege that we have as fundraising professionals and nonprofit professionals to help donors write their story, to be that third line in the final chapter of their life. To be a reason that their life had a richness that would not be available to them if it were not for your arts and culture organisation. It is a privilege, and I think it is something we need to really own, honour and take action on. 

I want to walk through some bonus materials. These are some things that you can download as part of the presentation. How to get started? Whether you are a large organisation and maybe you have a process, start with a number of donors. If you’re a large organisation with a bigger team, start with 20 or 50 donors. If you’re a small grassroots or medium-sized organisation, just list your top five donors based on giving value, longevity of giving or potential capacity. You can approach this a number of different ways, but pick five people and start matching them to one of these personas. 

Have some discovery conversations with them to understand their motivations. You may not know. You may say they could be a communitarian, but they are also kind of a repayer. The only way to distinguish that is by being a little detective and sleuthing out, in conversations, what their predominant motivation is. One way to do that is to ask these distinguishing persona questions. Of course, you’re not going to tell them, “Let’s determine your persona over two cups of tea.” It’s just going to be a conversation. 

What I want you to do is pick two or three of these questions that you will weave into your conversation. What do you want to accomplish with your giving? What are your needs and expectations after a gift is made? What’s the most special way you’ve ever been thanked for making a gift? Tell me about one of your most meaningful giving experiences. It’s okay if it wasn’t with us. I really want to understand. 

Use these questions and print them out. I also put some of these persona distinctions on little cards. You can print these and tape them up in your workspace as a quick reference, because sometimes that donor calls and you want to have that deck nearby. Have it pinned up. There’s also a fillable PDF called the major gift portfolio planner. In the upper-left-hand quadrant, you can list your top five people that you want to create a month-by-month plan for, or your top 10. 

Perhaps this donor engagement planner would be where you could identify your youth program, your performance schedule and some other programmatic area where you can plot out what you could easily convert into a transformational donor experience. 

Steven, we have six minutes. 

Wow, Tammy, so much information. It’s a very dense presentation. Thank you so much. There is so much in there to take on board. I should mention there have been a few questions around the availability of the presentation after this session. That will be available to you. You’ll get an email with a link. Catherine will send it out. I’d also like to acknowledge Catherine’s work in setting this up. Thank you, Catherine, here at CPA. 

There are many comments and questions coming through the chat. Tammy, there is a question around the relatability of the North American experience into the Australian experience. You touched on this a little bit in terms of the local examples, but I’m also wondering whether the principles remain the same in the North American context and the Australian context. I wonder if you have any further comments around that. 

I think at the core, people are people, but certainly cultural nuances do have an impact. I think the best way to address that is by looking at those discovery questions and really just getting to know your donors at that deeper level. Ask them what motivates them, why they give, and who taught them about the power and joy of giving. Regardless of any translation or cultural differences, that will help you get to the heart of that donor. Then follow your good instincts. 

I should also mention that I’m sure nationally many of you have connected with Creative Partnerships Australia’s State Managers. We have representatives in every state and territory who are available after this session to help apply Tammy’s presentation and do a deep dive in any particular areas that you want. If you’re not in touch with Creative Partnerships Australia State Managers, please do that. 

Tammy, you often talk about creating a sense of meaningful belonging when attracting donors. I think it is always important to bear in mind that the great gift your organisations offer to potential donors is that sense of meaning and belonging. Often, if we feel hesitant about working with donors or this feels a little bit overly ambitious, hold on to that sense that we are actually offering, through the arts, a great gift. I’ve had the personal experience of being thanked generously by donors for what we brought to their lives. 

The other comment coming through the chat is around possibly the only archetype that didn’t resonate so much in Australia, which is the devout persona. Perhaps in the North American experience that’s a major category, but perhaps not so much in Australia, particularly in the arts. Any comments, Tammy? 

I agree. I think that the devout in North America is typically for Christian schools or universities or right-to-life groups. It is a very distinct niche. If that doesn’t resonate with the Australian experience, ignore it. Go with the ones that do. 

It resonates with us, Tammy. We’re in the western suburbs of Melbourne and it resonates big time with us. I would argue that it could resonate nationally. It’s a somewhat untapped area. I think the born-again Christians especially, but in the cultural context of Melbourne’s west we have lots of community groups we work with. We work with young people who are really religious, so this is a very important kind of persona for us. 

We’re inclusive and we’re reaching out to everybody and understanding that. This is a way we can engage. Thank you. 

You’re welcome. That is an opportunity for you, and perhaps it is an opportunity that is underused if you look at the entire philanthropic landscape. You could be filling a very specific niche in your region. Good for you. 

Sorry to interrupt. I guess that illustrates how particular everyone’s circumstances are, and how bespoke everyone’s circumstances are, both geographically, organisationally and in terms of each art form. It’s a highly tailored area. 

We’re running out of time, folks. Once again, Tammy, thank you so much. There is so much to take away. A round of applause, albeit on mute. Thank you so much, Tammy. 

Everyone, please look out for the feedback forms you’ll receive and also the links you’ll receive from the wonderful Catherine. We’ll send that out to you in the next little while. Thank you everyone for your attendance and look out for the next in the Knowledge Series from Creative Partnerships Australia. That’s it from us. Thank you and goodbye. Have a great day.