Rhea Wong Archives - Groupfinity

A Discussion with Rhea Wong About Her Book – Get That Money, Honey! The No-Bullsh*t Guide to Raising More Money for Your Nonprofit.

#051 – Rhea Wong makes a return trip to the Groupfinity Podcast, this time to discuss her new book – Get That Money, Honey! The No-Bullsh*t Guide to Raising More Money for Your Nonprofit. Rhea points out that that mindset is a big limiting factor in fundraising. We assume people will only give the minimum and we get too emotional about rejection, which impacts our ongoing fundraising efforts.

“I think people get so emotionally tied up in that if they don’t give to my organization, that means all these bad things about me and I’m somehow inferior and less than, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It’s like, okay, let’s just drop the story. AND how could we do our job better without this disempowering story?“

Storytelling is a key to your fundraising success because we all want to believe that our lives have meant something. We all want to think about legacy and believe we lived on the planet and the world is a little bit better. You need to help your donor see themself as the hero in the story. They are the hero, not you.

Rhea tells why investing in systems is so important. We’re always freaking out about money and not spending it and we end up missing the forest for the trees. Think about how to automate your organization to make you more efficient rather than just the amount of the expense itself.

“If I spend money, it’s either going to be because there’s a monetary ROI, so it’s gonna help me bring more money in, or It’s going to give me back my time, or it’s going to increase operational efficiency. If the expense that you’re putting out doesn’t do one of those three things, I think you really need to think about your expense.”

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear what Rhea learned from an FBI hostage negotiator.

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4 Key Takeaways

#1 Evaluate your systems by mapping your processes to where the problems exist;

#2 In Fundraising a story is important because it accesses the empathy part of our brain. And empathy is where generosity lies

#3 Don’t spend your time doing stupid manual things like data entry. Spend the time creating relationships with humans; and

#4 Your meetings should be 75% of them talking, 25% you talking.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[3:02] if we could take the emotion out of the money, then fundraising just becomes fun.
[5:19] We have to recognize there is a system to establish trust.
[10:46] I always assumed people are only gonna donate the minimum amount.
[12:17] The brain is only in one of two states, survival or executive.
[17:16] Expenses should 1) provide a ROI, 2) give back my time, or 3) Increase operational efficiency.
[20:47] We have to understand too that a lot of boards are engaged in risk mitigation.
[22:34] Your accounting systems have to be tight.
[24:57] So don't let the tool dictate your process
[26:59] Don't spend your time doing data entry. Spend the time creating relationships with humans.
[31:56] Your donor is the hero.

Should your nonprofit fundraising focus on high-net worth individuals? Absolutely. Here is what you need to know from Rhea Wong.

#037 – Today I am speaking with Rhea Wong. Rhea is a New York based nonprofit consultant who trains nonprofit leaders to fundraise more money from high-net worth donors. At the age of 26, she became the Executive Director of a nonprofit with a $250k budget. The first day on the job, she Googled 2 things – 1) what does an Executive Director do and 2) how to fundraise?

Rhea did something right – very right. In her 12 years as the ED of that nonprofit, she grew that $250k budget to over $3 million through private philanthropy.

“So I’d figured out the foundations, the corporations, the events, the individuals and the one area that I thought had the most potential for growth were the major gift individuals. When we look at the pie of philanthropic gifts, nationally, the biggest chunk of the pie are individuals. They’re responsible for upwards of like $350 billion or something. So many nonprofits focus on, you know, the grants and like corporate sponsorships or whatever. It’s really about the people.”

After working on projects for her ED friends, she decided to focus on major gift fundraising because that is where people had the most anxiety.

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear all of Rhea’s great dating analogies for fundraising.

Check out Rhea at – https://www.rheawong.com/

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Resources

4 Key Takeaways

#1 Think of fundraising like a party and you just want to see who wants to come to your party;

#2 Don’t think you are taking something away from donors. You are inviting them to be part of something special;

#3 Fundraising is just a math problem – offers minus NOs equals YESes. So the more you ask, the more nos you’re going to get, but the more yeses you’re going to get;

#4 If everybody’s your donor, then nobody is your donor.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[2:12] I was super clueless about fundraising.
[2:43] The biggest chunk of fundraising comes from individuals.
[8:30] In my family money was about stability and freedom.
[11:45] Fundraising is just a party and you just want to see who wants to come to this.
[12:50] Fundraising is not on your knees, it's on your feet.
[13:59] Fundraising is just a math problem.
[15:26] Date your donor.
[16:35] Money is trust in paper form - when people give you a donation, they are saying they believe in you.
[19:20] If everybody's your donor, then nobody is your donor.
[21:57] There should be no surprises - it should be pretty clear that we're not just hanging out for fun.
[23:20] The Pandemic
[27:10] Find Rhea

A Discussion with Rhea Wong About Her Book – Get That Money, Honey! The No-Bullsh*t Guide to Raising More Money for Your Nonprofit.

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4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

Should your nonprofit fundraising focus on high-net worth individuals? Absolutely. Here is what you need to know from Rhea Wong.

Resources

4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

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A Discussion with Rhea Wong About Her Book – Get That Money, Honey! The No-Bullsh*t Guide to Raising More Money for Your Nonprofit.

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Should your nonprofit fundraising focus on high-net worth individuals? Absolutely. Here is what you need to know from Rhea Wong.

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4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

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BE AN INSIDER

Join the community