Beyond the Portfolio Review

AJ, can you hear me? Yes. How are you? I'm good. How are you? And I think that we are live. People are joining. I'm gonna give everyone a few minutes to take their seats. And we we typically start these webinars off, at Evertrue with a question and a poll, in the chat. So AJ and I had been talking, before this started about whether or not, people had paid attention to the Knicks game. Are you, what what'd you say, AJ, a five Knicks? Knicks in five, baby. Okay. Knicks in five. Are you paying attention to the golden boot? My entire personality right now feels like it's surrounded around the the World Cup and and particularly pumped about Messi's three goal hat trick last night. But wanna hear from you all of what games, if any, you've been paying attention to this Yeah. And I I have to be honest. I, am a true bandwagon fan. I just happened to be in New York over the weekend, so got to live through the excitement firsthand, and it was very fun. So Knicks fan for life now, apparently. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. The the Friday game, the US men's national team, I was shocked, and I haven't been this excited to see the men's team play in a World Cup in a long time. So, Friday at at, like, one PM central time, my calendar might be blocked. Or if we are on Zooms together, you will hear is a federal holiday. So, hopefully, you've got you've got the time August already blocked. Yeah. Exactly. Well, let's, yeah. I'm gonna get us started, with who I am, who you are, the purpose of this webinar. So, if we have not met before, my name is Madeline Turner, and I am the chief marketing officer here at Evertrue. And I am joined by AJ Bauer, who is the associate vice president of development at the US Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation. AJ, do you wanna give us the ten second spiel of who you are? Sure. Right. So I've been with the Naval Academy team for coming up on nine years now, recently stepped into the AVP role, And I'm really just excited to share with everybody how our team approaches our work as development officers. I work with all of our frontline fundraisers that send know, that go out and talk to our alumni and donor community around the world. Awesome. We are so excited that you're here, and to be telling your story. And, you know, as you know, being, head of marketing at EverTube, we're gonna start just for those in the room who may be a little bit unfamiliar with who EverTube is. We believe that fundraising has always been about relationships, and that technology matters most when it helps people build strong human connections. And that's why everything we build is designed specifically for mission driven organizations like yours. And our role is to help fundraising teams turn information into action by knowing who to prioritize, how to engage, and what to do next. And that's why everything we build focuses on understanding the person behind the profile so that your you and your teams can spend less time managing data and more time managing the relationships that lead to the gift. We exist to make sure that generosity is realized. So we bring the intelligence, the tools, and the partnerships, to help every fundraiser succeed in finding the right donors, building real relationships, and turning generosity into lasting impact. And for more than fifteen years, we've partnered with organizations that are navigating the same challenges that many of your teams, are feeling today, which is rising expectations, with resources that don't always rise with them. We know that teams are being asked to personalize more, to move faster, steward better, uncover new opportunities, and and oftentimes, without adding headcount. And so that's why innovation in fundraising isn't just about shiny tools. We understand that it's about helping teams do more of what works with less friction. And today, more than fifteen thousand organizations trust Evertrue Solutions because they need practical ways to create more impact across multiple teams. And one of those teams is the US Naval, Academy Alumni Association and Foundations who also happens to have been selected as an ever true innovator for twenty twenty six. If after today's session, you are not through listening to AJ and I talk about the incredible impact that their team has had this year, highly encourage you to check out our podcast where we have, more conversations about the behind the scenes, work and people that went into these incredible results that you'll hear about today. So getting to why everyone is here. When the Naval Academy joined us for a webinar a year ago, They were tracking towards their first ever hundred million dollar year, and this was after shifting to a metrics driven culture, remapping portfolios for strategic alignment, and balancing donor pipelines. Since then, they've achieved that hundred million dollar goal. They saw a fifty percent increase in meetings and a twenty one percent increase in president circle donors and significant growth across frontline fundraiser activity. So we knew we needed a part two because the bigger question, is how? How did you make this possible? So today, that's what we're here to learn is what made it all possible. So we'll be covering what led to the hundred million dollar year, what scaling a fundraising operation actually looks like, what good looks like, how they create this visibility, across portfolios, what they're still actively figuring out, and maybe how you're tracking to this year's goals, and also any advice, for shops that are earlier in their journey. I will I'll call this next slide our TLDR slide because if you take anything away from AJ today, it's likely going to be, consistency. Everything we're discussing can, discussing can be summed up into, consistent focus engagement, how their team is working together, and how they are, measuring themselves. So without further ado, AJ, tell us about the work. Tell us about the factors that you think were most responsible for this record breaking year, and also congratulations. Thank you. So I do I do think, as I said on the podcast, consistency played the biggest role and continues to play the biggest role in our team's success. So when I think about what made last year's historic for us, fundraising year possible, it it all boils down to consistency. So as as the slide mentions, there were two transformational eight figure donations that the organization received, which, as everybody knows, do not they don't fall out of the sky. I mean, at least not not in my experience. I would love if they if more did, but it takes a long time of relationship building. And we'll we'll get into some of that in a little bit, but also, you know, we've stood up a new leadership annual giving program within our team. And when we looked at how to take the major donor relationship building experience, but building it at scale for donors giving at, like, a key kind of mid of the giving table range for us. But we wanted them to still feel as important as they are and and how you do that when you're managing a hundred and fifty to two hundred a hundred and fifty to two hundred fifty person portfolio. We we leverage tools like Evertrue and like Cadence's to make all of that possible, and we saw immediate success within the first year and a half of having staff members in that role. And so it it does all boil down to consistency of showing up and saying you're gonna do what you you're gonna do and and and also just doing the work. I mean, there's there's no it's not an easy button. Right? It's there you gotta do it every day. So it I I can't say anything more than consistent relationship building. Well, let's dive into the transformational gifts because there's a story that, I think would really resonate with others, and is a good way to show the impact of that method of consistency at work. Tell us about the fifteen million dollar donation. Absolutely. So, this is kind of a a philanthropic story, tale as old as time, but we had a a grad. So as and maybe I should take a step back. At the Naval Academy, our graduates graduate but also commission into the navy or the marine corps. They then have a service responsibility that they have to go out and do. And so some grads have a very long career in the military, and some grads do their service commitment, and maybe they get out of the military after five to ten years and then go quickly into the private sector. So we had a grad who did a a great military career, but got out, and went into the private sector and immediately started participating in our donor society. So for us, that's called president's circle. The base gift amount is twenty five hundred dollars, and he stayed a consistent President's Circle donor, over over time. And as our team grew and we were able to create relationships with donors, and he built relationships with our team members over time. He increased his giving, and he saw the impact of philanthropy over time, and he increased his giving. He joined our board several years ago, and he increased his giving significantly there. And then when we decided that we, you know, we're preparing for a a comprehensive campaign, we looked at who could be significant leaders and kind of the face of our campaign, and he was somebody that that came to mind. And so our leadership had conversations with him, and he agreed. And he ultimately made a fifteen million dollar gift that supports the foundation and our alumni association activities and many, many important projects, at the Naval Academy. But it it took many years to get to that point, and it was the consistent, communication, the consistent relationship building that got him there. And he you know, I'm sharing his story in my words, but he has has said this story many, many times. And, had he not engaged with us or been consistently engaged with us, maybe might not have been the number one organization when it came time to think about his first significant, significant philanthropic investment. Talk a a little bit about how your model has continued to change to support these repeatable fundamentals? Sure. So, we are very fortunate that several years ago, as we were looking at feasibility of our next comprehensive campaign, that our board invested in kind of scaling the team up. So we have spent the last three to four years scaling up our development team, and we were able to add several members to the team. And so when we look at what every team member needs to do to be successful, we really drill into that starting in the interview process. So we talk about kind of that, what does a good week look like? What do metrics look like? How are you held accountable? How are you supported by leadership in the organization to be whether that's through onboarding or continued professional development. And then we hold each other accountable to those expectations on a weekly, monthly, you know, annual basis. So we're we're wrapping up our our fiscal year right now. So we're in the process of doing reviews and celebrating wins. And we're also talking about, like, okay. This is what you need to do next year. Like, this these are the expectations as you grow with the team. And we have built a culture of open candor, if you will. I mean, that's repetitive there, but we have an open conversation about those expectations. And then we give you every tool possible to be successful. And we you know, it nobody is in this alone. I think the biggest message that we share with all team members, whether they're new or long standing, is that this is a collaborative effort. No one person closes a fifty million dollar gift that has been stewarded over decades. You know, no one person does anything in a silo at any organization. And so how we look at our collective role in these types of gifts, whether it's a big eight figure transformational gift or whether it's a new leadership annual giving donor who was receiving mailers or our magazine from our alumni association and decided to call in and spoke to our front desk person and who was like, oh, let me send you upstairs to somebody on the development team. Like, there it's a it's a full team effort here. And, obviously, there's been a lot of growth at, at the Alumni Association and Foundation, which is super exciting, but operating at scale can be a challenge. And I think that that's part of, like, getting into the to the nuts and bolts of what made this all possible. Let's can you talk about the transition to more fundraisers, more portfolios, more activity, and walk us through what that expansion has really looked like over the past one to two years? Sure. So when I started nine years ago, I was one of five, in in terms of a frontline major gift officer. And over time, as as your slideshows, we we are a team of nearly twenty people, And that includes our frontline fundraiser, our our major gift or regional directors. That includes a leadership annual giving assistant directors. That includes plan giving as well as corporation and foundation. And it in the consistency piece, right, is is the biggest challenge. So as important as it is, it's also the area that you have to spend so much time focused on. And I think that where where we continue to revisit when we're when whenever we identify a point where we're like, oh, we did not do that to our best ability, it's two things. It's either a lack of understanding of the why. And so we take a pause and we're like, why are we doing this this way? Why why is it important? Is it getting it is it helping us get to what our ultimate goal is? And if yes, great. We're all like, we build that consensus. And if the answer is I still don't understand, we revisit and maybe figure out how we can pivot or how we can improve a process. We're not just the only organization involving. The university is is evolving. It you know, we have to address those needs, and so how we do our work can change on a regular basis. But we are able we are willing, I should say, to to hit that pause button and and figure it out. I think that also as as as with any growth, Right? Like, people are stepping into new opportunities. They're taking on new responsibilities. It's giving grace. It's saying, hey. Like but but being willing to have that conversation, even if it's a little bit uncomfortable, even if it's a little bit hard, is so important. Because if you do not, then you're not going to continue that culture of excellence or hitting those high standards that you've set for yourself. So the accountability piece and, like, the trust piece are so important as you scale up, and you have to get that buy in early. And that's one of the reasons why we we talk about it in our, interview process is so that people have the expectations from the jump. And and then we like, again, we do what we say we're going to do. There's a question in the chat asking, how many researchers or portfolio management people are are make up the twenty person team. Sure. So they don't actually sit on my team. A couple of months ago, the organization looked at our structure and reorganized so that our two the way that we are the way that we are organized is we have a development or a front a team of frontline fundraisers, so the development team. We have annual giving, manages all gifts and multichannel solicitations that fall below a certain threshold. And then we have a donor experience team that manages research and portfolio management, events operations, campaign operations, stewardship reporting. And we're still small, in the grand scheme of things, so our collaboration across the organization is critical. So even though those researchers don't report up to me, I meet with them weekly and monthly for or quarterly for portfolio reviews, and and we have a a close relationship. And one more question before moving on. The the hundred million dollar, it was that a combination of major gifts, foundation, grants, corporate? Okay. Great. Thank you. Okay. So moving into what has, held up versus what required adjustment, as you scaled. Can you talk about what parts of the original model traveled well to a larger team? What required more adjustments than expected, and where did the crack show up? Sure. So we have well, we we we use this term from the Naval Academy, but a culture of excellence. So we are always striving to provide the best experience for any external partner. So whether that is a principal gift donor or a first time, you know, new graduate making a gift right after graduation on on our website. And I think that that is something that our entire organization values and focuses on and is so important to our why of of what we're doing and and how we're supporting our institution. The framework in terms of how we prepare for meetings, how we utilize tools like Evertrue to make our jobs as easy as possible still stands, and and that isn't completely changing. Right? Like, we might make small tweaks, but the general framework is there and is important. Our OKR setting and metric tracking, that isn't going away. We, have really, again, really big goals the next several years. And in order to meet them, we have to track productivity and have to look at, what we're doing and how we're doing it to ensure that we can stay on track to our goals. What requires adjustment? You know, again, that consistency across teams and allowing managers the autonomy to manage in their style and also learn as they're stepping in to to to new management roles is so important. And I I don't think that is ever without its speed bumps. But I think that the again, that that, like, culture of, commitment to excellence, we all are willing to have, those candid conversations and know that the there is an assumption of good intent so that every team member is perform is, like, providing feedback and and pushing each other because we all want the best experience possible for for our team. Awesome. And this goes back there's another question in the chat going back to the, the amount Three. Doing doing the work. So even if the researchers, aren't part of the group of twenty, how many researchers are doing that work today? Sure. So we have three members on our research team. So we have director and then an assistant director and a two assistant directors. And they both or sorry. They all, manage different levels of research. Right? So our director focuses on research for our leadership. We have research for all of our gift officers as well as research provided ahead of events and and, different engagements. Great. Thank you. So back to the the culture shifts and what's what's traveled well. You mentioned that the culture traveled well. Can you that's it's not easy to get buy in for change. So can you share a little bit about the approach to getting that buy in, and making that sustainable? Yes. So well, the first the first buy in starts at the interview. So there are a couple of things that our team does during the interview process that I think is very unique to us, but I also think is just unique, in the fundraising world. The the first thing is so our team does not only do we look at at metrics, but we have a weekly practice of whether you call it role playing or practicing donor conversations. We have borrowed a term from the Blue Angels called chair flying. So we practice donor conversations as a team on a weekly basis, and it is to allow everybody just as you if you're gonna practice to be on the Knicks or in the World Cup, like, you're not gonna go into that game never having kicked a soccer ball or practiced a three throw. You don't ask for a million dollars or even a hundred thousand dollars every day. So giving people the opportunity to practice their pitch or get comfortable with the language in a way that, lets them fumble and mess up and build the muscle memory so that when they go into those conversations, they are ready. So we do that in the interview process, but then we also go through what our metric expectations are and how we support you in reaching those goals and what tools we have to help people reach those goals. And so it's just a very, like, out in the open conversation. But then once you're on the team, we have these standing meetings. So we we have you know, Tuesdays, we chair fly. And every, I meet with my direct reports once a week. They meet with their direct reports, every other week, and we all talk about metrics and goals in those conversations, but we also have a standing weekly bigger team meeting where we look at our our progress to date on a weekly basis as a collective. And so if we are looking at a shortfall, we can say in that big big collective meeting, hey, guys. We it's almost the end of the fiscal year. We've got, like, this much to go. Let's brainstorm who who maybe hasn't made their gift yet this year. Let's have a conversation on how we push across the finish line as a team. And then those individual one on one conversations are drilled into individual performance. And then we also, with our research team, have month or, sorry, quarterly, portfolio reviews. So that's where research is using programs like SIGNAL, through Everture and helping the gift officers ensure that there aren't any gaps in, you know, outreach in their portfolio. They're helping people figure out if they need to disqualify folks and move them out of their portfolio. They're looking at new, you know, new additions to the portfolio and things of that nature. And it it it it all seems to be working at the moment. Yeah. Yeah. I I mean, at the moment, I think that you I'll just sorry to jump the gun, but I think that there's also you we are talking about everything that led to your first record breaking year, but I think that you are, you and Messi are breaking more records this year. I mean, as a former collegiate soccer player, I'll take that. I didn't know that about you, but congrats. I didn't make it, to the collegiate level, but, here we are. So let's get into we've laid the foundation, and we're gonna talk about what this actually looks like on a day to day basis. I I see questions in the chat, around, you know, how, the communication has been has remained open, but also some of the specific metrics. So I think we're gonna get to, some of that coming up. So, let's talk about Fridays, which are a good day for any of us, but they're especially impactful for your team. Walk us through those Friday reviews. So and this when I when we say a Friday review, we we simply mean an email. So every Wednesday, an email goes out to the team, and it's like, please enter your meetings for the next week. And then on Friday, you have you have until, like, midday Friday. Friday afternoon, an email goes out to the entire leadership structure and organization and says, here are the upcoming donor meetings. And people look at that not as a, like, we're watching and seeing what you're doing. It is a, oh my gosh. I ran into that person at a football game yesterday. Here's here's a tidbit. Or I put mine in and our, our EVP for our alumni association reached out, and he was like, oh my goodness. I am having breakfast with them on Saturday. Is there anything that you need me to tee them up for for your conversation on Tuesday? And it is meant to be like, our network and community is so tight knit that we see and and Annapolis is a a small town. And so we see people informally all the time. So it just helps build, like, a gift officer's kind of like, it it gives them some tools in their toolkit as they go into meetings to be like, I heard you saw AJ at the restaurant. Like, what did you think of that restaurant? And it it it makes it very informal, without being, like, so research like, we're tracking you. Yeah. And you we you talked a little bit about the weekly, biweekly, and quarterly cadence of meetings with different groups. But can we talk a little bit about the metrics that you're reviewing that help create a plan, and how do you hold teams to it once the week starts? So we kick off every Monday, nine AM, with what we call our first things first meeting. And in that meeting, it is a check-in. How was your weekend? What everybody do? Did you have fun? It goes through any major updates for the coming week. So it it reminds people, hey. This is what's going on at the Naval Academy this week. This is what the alumni association has going on this week. Here are the people that are gonna be on the road this week. It has, just general organizational updates, you know, like, get your get your annual review in. But the the last thing that we do is we go through and discuss as a team, like, what we're proudest. So it's sort of like a rose and a thorn conversation. So what we're proudest of from the week before and maybe where we could have done a little bit better. And it just sets us all off on the same foot together going into the week. We we, of course, review our our metrics and our our results to date in in that conversation too. And so when we do hit milestones, we celebrate that. So when we we have an several new team members and, you know, once they hit that one million dollar milestone, we we got to congratulate and celebrate them with the whole team. So it it it it sets us off all on the same page. The individual meetings are meant for specific addressing specific needs in coaching. And so whether that's, like, I'm working on a proposal. What could you review this? I've got this trip set up. Here are the meetings that I've you know, I'm planning. I need to brainstorm a couple extra people to round out the trip to make it a little bit more impactful, or, like, addressing any needs before they become actual concerns. And then quarterly is is our portfolio review. So that's really where we dig into, like, the health of each individual portfolio, where we can fill in any gaps. Our team manages regions kind of all over the country. And the way we've set ourselves up, because we are a Indianapolis development team, so everybody is based here. We give everybody a territory that's, like, close ish to Maryland so that, like, you could either take a quick day train up and back or a drive, and then a region that's a little bit further away. So we dig into all of those territories, see what's successful, see where there are gaps. If I have a new gift officer and they're, like, grinding out emails but not getting any meetings, will say, okay. Let's pull up an email and, like, how can we tweak this? Like, how can we make sure that your outreach means that you do not have to send hundreds and hundreds of emails to get, you know, twenty meetings. And then we look at the the the overall metrics of of all of that activity and say, okay. You've actually increased your response rate or your you know, you've hit qualifications for the year in in all of all of those data points. And, I'm gonna answer a question, and you can correct me if I'm wrong. But the the weekly look ahead of all of the meetings that are booked are is based off of the, the activity reports that are put through signal and then pushed back through your CRM to run the email. Is that correct? Yes. So we, the way that that we, we we tweak it slightly, but but, generally, yes. Okay. Yeah. So automated Yeah. For the most part, but it does require, gift officers to input Yeah. That information. Okay. Absolutely. Yeah. So trip isn't in CR if your trip isn't in Everture, then it's not gonna be in the system. So So this is the reframe that I love. Most teams treat unresponsive, as there being no opportunity in moving on. But your data tells a different story. And so talk about what does it actually take, to get that first meeting, and how do you use that information to keep people motivated? Sure. So we we know that, our data tells us that it takes at least six outreaches for a new gift officer to connect with a discovery prospect. So when we are looking at that quarterly portfolio review and an and a gift officer is like, they have been so unresponsive. We can move them. We will actually look at the number of outreaches and say, okay. You have emailed this person twice. They there are no phone calls recorded in in the system. We need to try a little bit harder. And if somebody on the flip side, if somebody is like, I have I have emailed them six times and there's no response. I'm like, did you pick up the phone? Have you reached out to them on LinkedIn? How are we are we getting creative with our outreach? As I'm sure with many of the folks on the the call listening, you know, our our contact data is sometimes only as good as what an alumni shares with us. So in our alum as well, especially while they're in the military, move around a lot. So we don't always have the best, most recent data. And so if you are emailing into the abyss, like, and haven't tried another avenue, we're going to push you to try that other avenue before we completely give up on on somebody. Because what we also know is that when we get our foot in the door, generally, our alumni will make a gift of some sort. We have an incredibly, incredibly generous community that will give at, you know, whatever their capacity is. And and it's just a matter of getting in touch with them and educating them about how philanthropic dollars work at the Naval Academy. Awesome. So quick framing on metric, fatigue. It's it's easy to we've talked a lot around metrics, and it's easy to drown a team in numbers that don't change anything. And if we're talking six touch points and we're only looking at six emails, we're not really changing behavior or those metrics aren't helping to drive more personalized outreach. So how do you decide what's actually worth tracking? And can you talk about why you don't count everything? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We you know, that is that is where we do we build consensus as a team. So when I started, you know, the outreach that got tracked were emails and phone calls. And if you wanted a meeting counted, it was a meeting in person. And we had a colleague start, and he was like, hey. I've actually been reaching out on LinkedIn, and I'm getting a lot of responses and setting up meetings. There is no avenue for me to count my successful attempt like, outreach. How can we do that? And we said, well, let's just add it as a as a drop down in our system, and we can look at that data and see is there what what does that tell us? Do our younger grads respond more readily that way, when people are so inundated with emails? We know that grads in certain decades respond better to phone calls, versus email outreach. And so it's just making sure that, you think about what your priorities are in terms of what you want to count. So for some schools, it's all outreach. For some schools, it's just dollars. For us, we we said, in order to close a gift, you have to ask for a gift, which means you have to ask for a meeting. So we are going to count those things, so that we can have the data to show us how to do it the best way possible. And so we look at like, that's that is our why, if you will, when it comes to to how we approach metrics, and it's it's okay. We wanna make our jobs as easy as possible and as as authentic as possible for the donors receiving our outreach. So how do we incentivize people to to use the tools that they have in their back pocket? And if we're not counting it, let's talk about counting it. And if it no longer works, we can also talk about not counting it. And and making those decisions, I think, requires, shared visibility. That rhythm only works, if everyone is operating from the same picture. Right. So I think that we are gonna go role by role, from managers and the research team and then gift officers of of what that actually looks like in practice. So let's start with the research team, which is not just in the back office. What they surface is setting the agenda. So let's talk about what this looks like. Sure. So our research team are incredibly valued partners. We could not do our roles without them, And they have, we've got some really incredible colleagues who, number one, love data in a way that, is beyond my limits of understanding. And so when they're like, would you be interested in looking at this? I'm like, go ahead and show it to me and then explain it to me, and I'll let you know. But most likely, yes. If you're saying I should be looking at it, let's talk about it. But they also you know, it's it's not you know, they'll we don't just see them on a quarterly basis. So first, even though they are not on our, you know, immediate team, they join our, first things first meeting, so a Monday meeting once a month so that they can hear kind of what the big update. So that's usually the first Monday of the month. They sit in so that if we need to talk about upcoming events or upcoming research needs or ever true trainings or whatever it is, we they are they're in the conversation. And then, again, we're we're a fairly small office. So as as gift officers are out in the world doing their work or having conversations with donors and get, you know, an informal, recommendation of of somebody to reach out to, we will tag our research partners in a constituent profile in Evertrue and say, hey. Can you look into this person with for me? Like, should they be added to my portfolio? Like, can can you find out some more information? But but, finally, we utilize them, for all of our metric tracking. So how when I'm getting reports on, not only portfolio health, but, you know, in quarterly, or annual activity, they are they are a key collaborator in pulling and collating all of that data and helping ensure that we address any challenges before they really become problems. Or, like, they will give a heads up to say, hey. This person is really close to this milestone. Like, the next gift that they have will push them over a next gift of this level will push them over a milestone, so keep an eye out. So it is far more than just reporting. And, obviously, with managers, you've talked about the amount of conversations that have that are happening on a weekly or biweekly basis, and you obviously can't be in twenty people's conversations. So how do you stay close to that anyway? Yeah. So that's one of the reasons why I have one on weekly one on ones with my direct reports so that we can kind of be in lockstep. I'm not I there's there's obviously no way that I could be in twenty conversations, But we do I think I think I saw a question in the chat somewhere that was like, how do you get an open culture of communication like this? We we do have that open communication culture. So when, again, a win or a concern arises, we can address it quickly. A a team of twenty is still, again, relatively small compared to some institutions, so we're able to address things or talk about things in a very informal way. It's one of the reasons why our organization never really attempted, like, a a remote work a bit like, a significant remote work policy. Our leadership, has, what they like to call, like, drop in conversations. And and so that is an an important part of of, you know, management. And so if you're, you know, not in the office or, if you are, in a leadership role, you can you don't have to pop into my office. You can pop into our executive vice president's office or our CEO's office and and talk about whatever it is that you need. Well, it it you're getting a shout out that it sounds like you are the open communication culture and that that is starting from the top. So Well, and and there are people above me that have helped build that. So it it it certainly is a it is like an all in thing. Right? And you do you do have to build consensus, and it does certainly certainly help when it comes from from leadership. One of the things that in conversations that you've shared that I thought was particularly meaningful was that all of the none of this is just about staying close for for the purpose of just staying close, but about helping gift officers be the best gift officers that they can be in a data informed way. Anything you wanna comment on about that? Yes. I so I'll I'll share a funny anecdote. I I presented at a conference with a former colleague several years ago on metrics driven teams. And somebody came up to us afterwards and was like, oh my god. I would hate to be on your team. And and I was like, oh, wow. That's not the message that we wanted to share with you. But, you know, I think I think that there's certain like, that's a lens that you could look at it from. Right? Like, we I am not big brother. We are looking at things to make our jobs as easy as possible. This is not rocket science. This is like, we should be focused on building relationships for our institutions in in really authentic, like, person to person way. But there is a science that we can apply to that to help make it a little bit easier. And there are tools, whether it's, you know, new AI capabilities or, you know, old old just stand alone tool, like, that you can leverage to make kind of the more mundane things easier so that it doesn't feel like, like, nobody want and fundraising, at least from my perspective, wants to feel like they're, a salesperson. And I no offense to salespeople. Your job is important too, but, like, this is we want, we want it to feel like somebody is building a relationship. And in order to track that success and and build upon, those connections, we wanna make, like, the the day to day desk work as easy as possible. Well, perfect segue into the day to day desk work and making it as easy as possible. And I think this is also where it gets personal, at at least for your fundraisers. Walk us through how the day to day of how a gift officer is using utilizing data and the tools at their, disposal to walk into each conversation prepared. Yes. So we love the trips tools in Evertrue. We we really, like, build those out to help make again, the trip planning piece of it is as seamless as possible. I'm sure lots of people on the call remember, like, okay. You book a meeting, and now you have somebody else that wants to meet with you, like, an hour later. And you're like, where are you in relation to this meeting? And now I have to go to Google Maps. And, like, Evertrue builds that out for you in a way that makes trip planning super seamless. Gift officers are encouraged, to, like, build out, like, future trips that maybe don't have the dates on them, but just to plan for your year. So if you know like, we know that we travel a lot in the fall, around football season. So I know that, you know, this year, the Navy Notre Dame game is in Boston. I work with donors in the greater Boston area. I have a I should have a trip in Everture that is maybe, you know, two or three days before the that game where I can set up meetings with my key folks in the that community, and, it it helps take the guesswork out of out of that planning. Managers also sit down in those meetings in their one on one meetings and go through those trips. And they can say, okay. You know, you're you're meeting with with so and so. They're on the they're on the shortlist for one of our campaign leadership positions. Like, do you wanna practice that that conversation? Or, oh, this is a new parent. It looks like their kid's on the sailing team. I work with sailing team parents. Here's a couple of tidbits if you're not super familiar with the sailing program that you can prepare for. And then, of course, utilizing the the tools of, the summaries and and the interactions that, are in Evertru to mentally prepare for for conversations, not in a an a in a system, but I already mentioned our weekly meeting where we prepare for donor conversations. So in that weekly meeting, a lot of times, a Teams chat will go out couple hours before and say, okay. Come ready with your donor conversations. Like, who needs to who's closing a gift next week or who's having a discovery conversation? Let's make sure you're ready for that. And then finally, utilizing all of the tools that that we have to make, like, the recording of that meeting or the follow-up for that meeting as seamless as possible. Well, you know, and this is, I think the intelligence or the context, is what is so important here walking into every meeting, and it's how we think about it at Evertrue, which is AI is informational, but fundraisers are relational. The system, signal handles those signals so that your teams can handle the conversations that earn the gift. Do are there any examples, like job changes, that would be relevant to share of, how that context and information transformed the outreach, and and made that connection more personal? Absolutely. I mean, whether it's a it's a job change or, you know, we do a we do a, like, a giving week. And, you know, maybe it's a a really like, our our grads love to give, like, nineteen dollars and ninety six cents if they're from the class of nineteen ninety six during those, like, challenge weeks. And so if we have a major gift or or a donor that's in any portfolio that's doing something like that or we get a notification, it allows us to reach out to that person, not asking for anything. Right? And that's part of relationship building. If you're only reaching out to your the folks in your portfolio when you want something, the responses are probably going to get a little bit thin. So we utilize those those, updates and pings to allow us to authentically thank somebody or congratulate them, again, without being like, our research team told us that you had this big big life event. And and it it has been it has been successful in that sense because people are like, oh, wow. Like, thank you so much. I I'm really excited. By the way, I'm making ten times more than I was in my last job. So so I'd love to talk to you about that. That's awesome. So, what is on your list for next year? So, as we go into this next year, we are looking at, our campaign growth and regional strategy. We have, some really big exciting goals ahead of us as an organization, which means really big and exciting things for the Naval Academy. And our regional strategy, we know we know makes an impact. So we are building out committees around the country to in key in key regions, that will help us drive major and leadership annual giving, activity. We are planning, meaningful engagements in those communities. So whether those are super small, VIP dinners or maybe they're larger, like, let's just build a culture of philanthropy with our donor society donors or even, like, prospective donor society donors. We are doing a tremendous amount of work building parent philanthropy. So all of these things are kind of a a flywheel that go together, but it's it's another exciting year for us. So I shared with the Evertrue team, know, we have a, a goal. The next few years, we have our largest fundraising goal that the organization has ever budgeted for. And so we've got a couple of big years ahead of us, and it's just a really exciting time to be at Navy. We are super honored, to be a part of, of this journey that you're on, and hope that we can support, continued record setting, years. So for for the for the group that is watching this, if someone is watching this without twenty fundraisers and years of data, where would you tell them to start? Start with one thing. And I'm I'm gonna steal I think I think I again, I said this in the podcast, but I'm gonna steal, like, a James Clear idiom of, you know, don't try if you're gonna try and create a habit, don't try and change your whole life at once. Start with one thing, do it consistently, and then build on that. So if your one thing is, like, I want to track, how many outreaches it takes for a gift officer to get a meeting, start with that thing. And then start looking at, like, well, after how many meetings does it take to get a donation? And and then you can build on that that success and and those metrics. Review it, but use the information that you're giving even if it it might tell you something that you weren't expecting. It might tell you that you need to look at something else, But, like, use that data and and take it for what it's worth and be willing to pivot when the data is telling you to pivot. And then, you know, have the transparency with your team because I do think one of the reasons why we are able to have such a culture of metrics and and goal setting here and accountability is because we talk about it very openly. And so even even team members that don't sit on the development team, like, they know how the members of the development team are measured. It just there is just a level of transparency that helps, and that builds the consensus and buy in. Thank you so much, for your time. Congratulations. And and there have been a lot of questions in the chat. I think that you were gonna share your contact information. I'm gonna drop it in right now. Yes. So if you want to learn more from AJ, plea she is, going to be sharing some way to communicate with her, probably via email. But, also, if you wanna talk to us at Evertrue, we'd be happy to learn more about your team's goals and how we can help you achieve or exceed them, in this next year. So you can click to see a preview of Signal, or I think there's a poll, someone on our team will reach out. But, AJ, thank you so much. The podcast is also live, and it's worth a listen. Great. Thank you. This has been so fun. Awesome. Bye. Bye.