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Summary:

During this episode of the 7-Figure Fundraising Podcast, host Trevor Bragdon sits down with Becky Lewis. Becky is the executive director at Trinity Christian Academy Foundation, one of the largest, private, Christ-centered K-12 schools in Texas. She’s the chief fundraiser for the academy and manages their capital campaigns, major giving, and planned giving. 

Becky has raised more than $50 million for Trinity Christian in the last decade through expanding major donor giving and through events with speakers like George W. Bush, Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow. Over the last 25 years, Becky has raised more than $100 million as a fundraising executive for organizations such as Baylor Health Care System Foundation, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, West Dallas Community School, Sky Ranch Christian Camps and now at Trinity Christian Academy.

How it started

Becky says fundraising was not on her radar when she entered the workforce. She was working in special projects for Baylor Healthcare Systems when one of its foundation members told her she would make a great fundraiser. The foundation member offered to teach her everything about fundraising if Becky would take a new job raising money for a hospital in Garland, Texas. Becky decided to go for it. 

2:45 “The goal was three million and we raised $3.1 million, and it was for a new emergency room at that hospital. And I fell in love! I knew this is what I was wired to do. I knew this was how the Lord had made me. What a blessing! So, that’s how I got my start.”

Becky shares getting donors’ “yeses” enabled her to see that fundraising was what she was meant to be doing. She was surprised how many donors viewed giving to nonprofits as a privilege.

4:04 “When you build that case and explain to them how important they are to this big picture, then, believe it or not, they’re joyful. I’ve gotten millions of dollars from people and they’re telling me what a gift it is to give it.”

Becky says when she switched from fundraising for the medical field to education, she was surprised how  many donors gave to both sectors. Becky connects donors to giving opportunities that align with their interests whenever possible. She also avoids the “fixed pie” mindset when fundraising believing there is enough money in the world for everyone. If she finds out a donor is focused on a different area than she is currently fundraising for, she’ll pass that information along to a fundraiser more aligned with the donor’s interests.

6:06 “My motto is there’s enough money in Dallas, and probably the world, for everybody.”

Running a capital campaign

Running her first capital campaign was challenging, but now Becky has years of experience combined with a thorough system. She starts fundraising with the people at the top of an organization and works her way down, fundraising on every level. She says at the hospital in Garland, she created  campaigns for employees, the maintenance crew, threw fun lunches and raffles. Becky tries to make every person in an organization feel like they have ownership of the campaign. 

9:17 “I will get down to even all the children. [They] will do something in every classroom. The kids can maybe collect change and put it in a jar for our campaign. We want everybody to feel like our new building, everything we’re doing on our campus, that everybody is owning a little piece of that.”

Communicating with millennial donors

Becky says the way she communicates with donors has changed dramatically over the years. She used to fundraise with written correspondence and invitations. Now, she uses social media significantly. She speaks specifically about her experience communicating with millennial donors.

11:35 “What I have to do is think of every way someone would want to be communicated. So, when I’m going to make an ask from someone, sometimes it’s... they’re very, ‘What’s the bottom line, Becky? Tell me, don’t waste my time with all this detail. What is the bottom line?’ So, I have to be prepared for that.”

Becky says one of the best ways to know how to best communicate with a donor is to just plainly ask his or her assistant.

13:03 “I really do spend time getting to know the assistant because she’s the one who’s going to get me in with that person, is going to help me communicate to them the best way.”

When Becky calls to try to set up an appointment with a donor, she introduces herself to the assistant and spends a few minutes getting to know them. She also says when she gives donors Thanksgiving or Christmas gifts, she always includes the assistants. For example, Becky gives both her major donors and their assistants pies from a well-known local company every year for the holidays. She meticulously takes note on what kind they prefer. It’s a simple way she’s found to make an easy, thoughtful, and personalized gift.

Steps to launching a capital campaign

1. Becky says the first thing a nonprofit should do when thinking about launching a capital campaign is to hire an outside entity to do a feasibility study. This will determine if your campaign’s goal is viable given your timeframe and donors. 

17:34 “You don’t want to set a goal that you can’t reach. Nobody wants to be a part of that. So, I would say you have to do a feasibility study. Literally, I’ve done so many campaigns and I wouldn’t do one without one.”

When looking for a vendor to conduct your feasibility study, Becky says to know your donor base and choose accordingly; the vendor needs to mirror the donor-base. Becky suggests interviewing at least three vendors and getting recommendations from other fundraisers who have done similar, successful campaigns.

21:38 “Even sometimes I’ll make cold calls. I’ve called people at a hospital or some place I don’t even know, but I knew they did a successful campaign.”

2. After determining the feasibility of your campaign, Becky says to go to the board.

22:22 “Really, your board has to give 100%. You hope that your board can give financially, but everybody has to give because when you go to foundations, and even other donors, [they’ll] want to know is the board participating and you want to be able to say, yes, 100% board support.”

3. Then, Becky goes to her highest donors. She tries to fill out a big piece of the funding goal with large gifts from high capacity donors because it motivates other people to give. She also uses this step to look for campaign leadership from the donor perspective.

4. For current campaigns, Becky says she asks families at Trinity next. In a hospital setting, this would translate to asking donors who are familiar with you and who have given before at a lower level.

5. The last step is to ask everyone else. Becky recommends not going public with your campaign until you have at least half of your fundraising done.

24:20 “By the time you go public, you want everybody to feel like you’re going to reach your goal and every dollar matters.”

Becky says 90 percent of all donations will come from the top 10 percent of your donors. So, it’s important to know and cultivate relationships with these donors because they make or break your campaign. 

Naming rights

Becky says Trinity Christian does not offer naming rights. However, some hospitals she’s worked at did and they typically required donors to pay for half of a building to receive naming rights. If donors have suggestions to modify construction or design plans to their namesake building, Becky says to research what can and cannot be changed and to not over-promise. You have to negotiate and listen to donors’ opinions not just say yes or no.

Maintaining focus on nonprofit mission

Becky says the key to maintaining donors’ focus on the mission of your nonprofit, rather than an event speaker, is to make sure interview questions or speeches are focused around the topic of your mission. For example, when George W. Bush came to speak, he was asked questions about the value of education in his life and to his family. When Peyton and Archie Manning came, the focus was on leadership and family. Becky says hosting celebrity speakers interview-style at fundraising events is helpful to keep  the speakers focused on the set topics. Becky also shares valuable advice for nonprofits seeking to land celebrity speakers for their events.

41:30 “Sometimes you just have to go for it and that’s what I did with George W. Bush. I just went for it because I tried to connect the dots, so then I just started talking to his handler — and you negotiate. And I’ll tell you sometimes they’ll negotiate with you because some of their fees are high.”

Becky says she always makes a hard ask at fundraising events with celebrity speakers, and she scripts the ask.

47:18 “I look at people and I say, ‘You have to do everything I ask you to do or we’re not going to raise money and it’s going to be on you.’… And they really do stick to the script!”

Becky says if you want to be a good fundraiser, get involved in the things you’re passionate about. 

52:16 “Leave a legacy, whether it’s your time or it’s your money. Work on leaving a legacy somewhere.”

For more information on Becky and Trinity Christian Academy, visit trinitychristian.org or email Becky personally at blewis@trinitychristian.org.

To find out how to become an expert fundraiser, visit 7figurefundraising.com.