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Summary:

During this episode of the 7-Figure Fundraising Podcast, host Trevor Bragdon speaks with Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of The First Liberty Institute, the United States’ largest legal organization dedicated exclusively to protecting all Americans’ religious freedom.

Kelly founded First Liberty in 1997 to defend religious freedom in the courts and the public arena. First Liberty has participated in cases before the United States Supreme Court, the Federal Court of Appeals, federal district courts and state courts. It has won over 90 percent of its cases, many of them being landmark and religious liberty cases. 

Kelly shares how they made event fundraising the key for finding new major donors for First Liberty. He details how he sells the vision to donors to how to turn small fundraising events into a series of six-figure fundraising dinners.  Kelly also highlights practical steps nonprofit fundraisers can make to create a lasting connections and donations.

How it started

Growing up, Kelly says he knew he was good at analytical thinking so he debated between becoming a lawyer or a pastor. Ultimately, he decided to become a lawyer. When he finished his judicial clerkship, he wanted to use his legal skills to help churches and protect religious freedom, but didn’t know how. Then, out of the blue, two partners from large law firms contacted him and asked him to join them in fighting for religious freedom in the courts — and they even offered to send him to seminary part-time.

2:41 “That’s what got me started. Really, the job was created that did not exist before and it was the very thing that I was wanting to do. So, we started doing religious freedom work when people had no idea how bad it was going to get.”

Kelly says First Liberty’s nonprofit model is different from most. It works with lawyers who are people of faith looking to take on cases they find personally meaningful — most of whom are seasoned, top-tier attorneys. Instead of flying them around the country to take on cases, First Liberty acts locally. 

6:18 “No matter where our lawsuits are, our teams are the best attorneys in the country at the best law firms . . . that are in those communities, that know those judges, that know that community, that know the jury pools and that’s the reason why they’re the best. . . . That’s why we have such a high win rate.”

Kelly says this model has needed fine-tuning over the years, but it has and continues to be highly effective — and attracts some of the most passionate and talented lawyers in the United States. Having this top team of lawyers was central to his victory at the Supreme Court in the Bladensburg Peace Cross case in June, officially known as “American Legion vs. American Humanist Association.” 

 

How his event strategy helps identify new major donors

Kelly says one-on-one meetings with potential donors is the first step to creating a partnership. Early on, he had some major donors who said they wanted to hold a small event at their house so they could invite their friends to learn about his work. This method was so effective, it led to an event strategy specifically designed to find new major donors. 

17:33 “It’s very valuable because they’re pre-clearing people for you. These are major donor people, and so they tend to hang with people at their level. So, these are people with capacity and they’re people that they’ve already pre-cleared that they think will be philosophically . . . aligned with the mission. And so they’re doing a lot of the work.”

Kelly says he learned that those small meetings only raise money if you go back and individually meet anyone who expressed an interest in giving support. In his own journey, Kelly came close to giving up on event fundraising. But one of his board members who was well-connected nationwide offered to help introduce First Liberty to potential donors. This board member offered to hold an event in his home and invite people from across the country. Then, he took it a step further by urging the attendees to host an event as well. 

19:50 “It just really was very very successful. . . . We actually had people making gifts on the spot, the first time.” 

Through this method, Kelly’s donations and network began to grow. During each home meeting, he would give a presentation that ended with a question and answer session, which donors found particularly valuable. They kept doing these home events until there were enough donors in a given city to host a larger annual event. Before each dinner event, Kelly would ask around 20 existing donors to invite enough guests to fill a table with potential donors. The invited prospects were asked to attend for free to learn more about the work of First Liberty.

24:51 “And it’s not just filling tables because they cost you money. It might cost you $50 per person for the food and room and all that. But it’s getting the right people there in the room and again that’s why your table hosts are so so important. They know how to get the right people, people who are friends of theirs who have a similar philosophy and capacity. It works out really well.”

At his first dinner fundraising event, Kelly says 300 people was the attendance goal. But because of the groundwork that was laid through 4 years of doing smaller events in people’s homes, they crushed their goal. Almost 600 people attended the dinner. The fundraising dinner is First Liberty’s signature event now, raising an average of $1000 per person in attendance, without selling any tickets or table sponsorships. Kelly says the luncheons are more time-sensitive — only 70 minutes long — and they host them in areas of existing strong support. For nonprofits thinking about starting a prospecting event strategy, Kelly says it’s a matter of how many people are interested. 

26:54 “Once you get to the numbers where you feel like you have 15 or 20 people who think they can fill a table of 10 easily, then I think you’re ready to try to go to the next step.”

Handling the ask

Kelly shares that at the end of every dinner and luncheon, they make a big ask. First Liberty hires somebody who makes that ask for them and they have donation cards at each table setting. This gives each person the option of being involved through giving, making a pledge or hosting an event. 

32:10  “What we found sometimes is that basically what happens that night might just be half of what is going to happen and over the next 4 months it ends up doubling.”

Kelly says with the luncheons, he usually sees the fundraising response right there because those who attend come every year and know what to expect. The luncheons are more for established donors than the dinners. Kelly has found that most of his donors are not one-time givers. Instead, if First Liberty maintains the relationship, the donors continue to give over the years. He likes the idea of donor pledges because it allows donors to think long-term with First Liberty, but it does create an added step. Nonprofits have to then follow up and gently remind donors to honor their pledge.

35:17 “If you just send people a letter, which way back I sent people a letter to kind of remind them, and it didn’t offend everybody but it offended some people. So, I learned at that point don’t do that. Now, certainly with all of our major donors, we circle back around if somebody’s way behind. . . . (35:49) We don’t want them to feel pressure if something has happened. Sometimes it’s just they didn’t remember.”

Kelly recommends following up with a phone call or if you have a donor meeting set up, you can mention options within the pledge then. Kelly shares that because of scale issues, First Liberty hasn’t always been the best at following up with new donors and getting to know them, but that’s one of their top priorities this year.  

Recommendations

For nonprofits who want to try prospect fundraising events, Kelly recommends:

• Don’t charge to attend - The first rule of prospect events is no one is charged to attend.  Table hosts are also not asked to give any money — just to invite friends who would be a good fit as a donor for your organization.  

• Start small - If you’ve never held a prospecting fundraising event, start out small. Find a few people who are real believers in your mission and have connections. Invite them to host an event in their home with 10 or 15 other couples and tell them about your work.  The biggest challenge with a small home based event is getting attendees. You’ll need to invite 3x or 4x more people then you want to attend. If the goal is 10 guests, you’ll want to invite 30 to 40 people.

• Hold a table host lunch 2 months in advance -  For larger events, Kelly found it was very helpful to host an event exclusively for table hosts two months before the big event. It reminded the table hosts of the mission of First Liberty and motivated them to fill their tables with great prospective donors.  

• Show the need - At the event, make the clear case for the work you do, who it impacts, and why it’s important. 

• Interviews, not keynotes - If you have a guest speaker, do an interview style conversation instead of keynote speech. This keeps your organization front and center during the event.  Also you can script the questions to highlight why the work you do is important. 

• Make the ask - Make sure to do a clear fundraising ask at the event and have cards to record donations, pledges and also if they’d like to host a house event. 

• Follow-up matters - Follow-up with attendees after the event to try to have donor meeting with those who did not give a donation at the event.  Kelly says they found about half of the donations are received at the event and the other half through follow up. 

46:14 “The difficulty with smaller events is getting people there. . . . If you get them there and they respond well and people are excited, then you have sort of got something that would be replicable and that you can grow from.”

Kelly says don’t be afraid to start small, if you have two or three successful small home events, you’re ready for a big event. 

For more information on Kelly and the First Liberty Institute, visit firstliberty.org.

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