IAM1041- Leader Works on Strategic Fundraising Communication

Emily Weisgrau is the president of Weiswood Strategies Ltd, which helps mission-driven organizations increase contributions and deepen donor engagement. Emily works with leading nonprofit organizations on strategic fundraising communications, bringing 25 years of experience in fundraising, marketing, and nonprofit management. She is a graduate of Vassar College and American University.

• CEO Hack: i) Book- The Power of Less by Leo Babauta (ii) Calendly (iii) Using filters and labels in Gmail
• CEO Nugget: Don't do everything, niche down
• CEO Defined: Freedom and Control

Website: http://www.weiswood.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyweisgrau

Full Interview:

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Transcription

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00:20 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:48 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Emily Weiss-Groud of Weisswood Strategies. Emily, it's great to have you on the show.

00:58 – Emily Weisgrau

Thanks, Gresh. It's great to be here.

01:00 – Gresham Harkless

Super excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Emily so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Emily is the president of Weiswood Strategies, LCD, which helps mission-driven organizations increase contributions in deepened donor engagement. Emily works with leading nonprofit organizations on strategic fundraising communications, bringing 25 years of experience in fundraising, marketing, and nonprofit management. She is a graduate of Vassar College in American University. Emily, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community? I sure am. Awesome, well, let's do it then. So to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

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01:40 – Emily Weisgrau

Sure. So I worked as an employee of nonprofits and colleges for close to 25 years before I launched my own business. And I moved up through the ranks and then I kind of hit a little bit of a ceiling and realized that I had 2 options. I could either continue working in-house and manage a bigger team, which I did not really love doing, or I could go off on my own. And I decided to do that inspired in part by my husband who had started his own business shortly, maybe a year or 2 before I did. And he was so happy that I thought, I want that. So I decided to take the plunge and I launched Wife's Width Strategies about 18 months ago.

02:25 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I definitely appreciate that and yeah, it's great to kind of see you know, spouses or people we love and care about, have so much fun and enjoyment, but definitely feeling like we are attracted to that and wanted to also take that leap sometime so that we can enjoy that just as much.

02:41 – Emily Weisgrau

Exactly.

02:43 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more. I know we talked a little bit about the 25 years of experience, and I imagine that has helped you tremendously in growing your business. Could you take us through a little bit more on what you do and how you serve the clients you work with?

02:56 – Emily Weisgrau

Absolutely. So Weiswood Strategies works with nonprofit organizations, including colleges and universities. And what we do is specialize in fundraising communications that help to deepen donor engagement and increase contributed revenue. So what we do is we strategize on communications. We do a lot of writing, we work with designers, and really it's all toward the fundraising effort. So we really specialize in those communications that support, you know, fundraisers who are out on the road meeting with donors or alumni.

We do direct mail appeals and do cases for support. We also report back to donors. You can't just ask them for money. You need to tell them how that money was spent and make them feel that their investment was worthwhile. So we do impact reporting as well. And we're really, we're specialists. We're not traditional fundraising consultants and we're not a marketing agency. We live in between the 2.

03:53 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I almost feel like that's 1 of the biggest and probably most foundational elements that are necessary for nonprofits to be able to have those things in place. And I love that fundraising piece, but I love how you mentioned as well too, is also realizing the impact of being able to have and create those impact statements because if I'm doing something or providing revenue or donating whatever for a good cause to know that I have made an impact and what that impact is, it not only helps out them, but I think it helps out in building those strong long-term relationships.

04:27 – Emily Weisgrau

That's exactly right. It's really vital for organizations to do that, to keep donors connected and coming back year after year.

04:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I think so many times we forget that as you know, nonprofit leaders on each of those nuances and how they all go in line. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for yourself or the organization or a combination of both. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

04:51 – Emily Weisgrau

So I was a fundraiser before I went into the communication side. And so I really understand my clients. I've been in their shoes. I've been on the front lines of having to ask for money. So I like to say that I speak the language of fundraising. That's what sets us apart is that we do this 1 thing and we do it well, and we understand what the client needs because we have been there.

05:16 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that's absolutely huge. I love how you, you know, use the analogy of a metaphor of it being a language, because I think so many times, you know, in nonprofits, you get really excited about the mission and everything that you do, that you don't sometimes understand, you know, that language and how important that language is. So I love that you kind of bridge that gap and help to empower people, but also to help them out as far as like being, I guess that arm so that they know that they have that expertise to lean on. Exactly, exactly. Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

05:55 – Emily Weisgrau

Can I give you more than 1 answer?

05:57 – Gresham Harkless

Go for it.

05:58 – Emily Weisgrau

OK. All right. So the book I would recommend is The Power of Less by Leo Babada. His advice is so helpful. It's really about distilling down. And in a way, that's what I've done in the business, right? I have niched down to 1 real, you know, there are many services within what I do, but again, not a marketing agency, not a fundraising consultant. We specialize in fundraising communications. And that's the power of less by offering fewer services, we can really target what clients need and specialize.

And I think that sets us apart from others. And it's also made my life simpler. When I launched Weisswood Strategies, I offered way more. I was trying to serve for-profits and nonprofits. You can't be all things to all people well. By simplifying my work life, I've simplified my personal life as well. So definitely the Power of Less by Leo Babada. The other thing I would recommend, and this is just an app that I'm sure others have, you know, sung the praises of, but Calendly. Calendly is the greatest app to come along in my opinion.

The amount of time I have saved not going back and forth 100 emails like when are you free? Well, can you do this date? How about these 3 times? Nope. Just click a button and someone can schedule with me. I now have a link to it in my email signature. I have it on my webpage. Everybody knows it's there. If they wanna have a meeting, they just click it and it's done. And I love that, saves so much time. So those are my 2. I could go on. I have others if you wanna hear them.

07:30 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. If you definitely have more, but I wanted to just touch base on both of those because, you know, the amount of back and forth that it takes to sometimes pin down a time, especially if you throw in different time zones, which is a whole nother thing too, is huge. So I so funny I've heard people, you know, mentioned that, you know, Calendly or whatever scheduling app or software they might use as if it's like their first hire because it saves you so much time that it allows you to just be present.

07:58 – Emily Weisgrau

It absolutely does. I love it. It's just made my life so much easier. Another 1 is, gosh, this is such a simple 1 and people probably have been using it for years, but using filters and labels in my Gmail. I have 10 active clients at a time. If they're all emailing me, I need them to go, I can't look at all of them at once. You know, if I'm working on 1 client's project, I need to be focused and not distracted by other clients at that moment. It just all goes into their folder and I deal with it when I get to their project. It's just great. And you can color code, which is really fun.

08:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I think it speaks to like the amount of things that you have to juggle just in general sometimes with life and then you add business on top of that and then having, you know, multiple clients to be able to kind of set up those filters and those ways to kind of, you know, organize each of the correspondence is huge because it allows you to kind of be present and be focused on what project you're working on at that time. And you're able to kind of switch back over because you know where everything is. Exactly. Absolutely. And I love the book as well. I have not heard of that book. I definitely want to check it out.

But it speaks to what I think a lot of times we forget about is kind of abundant in that abundant mentality. So many times our fear is kind of drilling down and saying this is the 1 thing that we do and we're going to do it better than anybody else is that we're always quote unquote leaving something on the table. But it really takes an abundant mentality and abundant mindset and a lot of focus on saying no to a lot of things to really be able to draw down.

09:33 – Emily Weisgrau

Exactly. It gives you permission to say no to things that aren't the right fit. And I know lots of other consultants, I can refer people to them if I'm not the right 1, but it's really freeing to be able to say no because you've gotten really clear about what you do and what you don't do.

09:49 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I appreciate you bringing up that point as well too, because I think so many times we think that saying no means that person doesn't get help. But as you start to develop those relationships, you can always refer people out, you can build those relationships, and a lot of times that helps out the client in a better way, and sometimes they come back to you just for exactly what it is that you need.

10:08 – Emily Weisgrau

That's exactly right, it's great.

10:11 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, absolutely. Well, so now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business so.

10:24 – Emily Weisgrau

So I think it's the same theme we've sort of been carrying here which is to niche down. So that's my recommendation to other businesses if you're feeling pulled in a lot of directions, don't try to do everything. Just figure out what you're best at and what you love to do. And if they're not the same thing, you know, explore that. Hopefully, The thing you love doing is the thing you're also best at. And that's in my case, that's true. And so that's why once I realized I didn't have to do everything, I could just do the kind of work that I am best at and that I really enjoy, my life got much simpler. So niche down, don't be afraid to unload services that aren't really serving you or your clients. Well, it's just, that it's the best advice that I got as a business owner. And so that's my advice to others as well.

11:15 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. Well, Emily truly appreciates that. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're open to having different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Emily, what does being a CEO mean to you?

11:30 – Emily Weisgrau

Oh, 1 word freedom. It's absolutely freedom for me. I love being my own boss. I love being able to work with multiple organizations rather than just 1 employer. I love the variety. I love the impact that I'm making. And I love being able to control my own time. Time is so valuable. Having the freedom to use my time as I want to is a real gift.

11:55 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Time is definitely something that's very precious. And it's so funny that you said that because That was a word that was coming to mind when you were mentioning your husband and how he seemed like he was joyful, freeing. And I think for 1 thing, to be able to build your business is definitely a great thing to do. But I love the hack and the nugget that we tucked on as well too, because I think we feel like we have to do more. We have to do, you know, we have to burn the candles on all ends in order to make an impact, but really it's freeing as well too, to know that you can drill down on the thing you do best. I think hopefully you enjoy it as well too. And that really is probably 1 of the most freeing things that you can do.

12:32 – Emily Weisgrau

Absolutely. I mean, there are definitely times when we're burning the candle at both ends of our businesses. But if we want to work on the weekend and take an afternoon off, we can. And that's really lovely.

12:43 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Emily, truly appreciate that definition. And I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best they can get out of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

12:58 – Emily Weisgrau

Sure. Well, thanks so much. So anyone who's interested in Weiswood strategies can visit our website at Weisswood.com. That's W-E-I-S-W-O-O-D. I'm also very active on LinkedIn. So I encourage people to connect with me there. And I'm working with some great clients right now. We've got the Jane Goodall Institute and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, the National Park Foundation. We work with all kinds of nonprofits in science and education, you name it. So they're all just doing great, great work and I'm so delighted to be partnering with them. So the 1 thing I'll leave your listeners with is a little strategy that I have found really helpful as I've grown my business, which is to think about public relations.

You know, this podcast that you so graciously are having me on is an opportunity for me to get the word out. And of course, you know, we'll, I'll promote you and you'll promote me. And you know, I think a lot of business owners do thought leadership and that's really important blogs and emails and posting on LinkedIn. I do all those things too, But having someone else give you that credibility, whether you're getting quoted in a magazine or a website or being on a podcast, that is gold. If you can do that, I recommend that to everyone. I think that's worth investing time and money in as a business owner and as a CEO. So I encourage others to think about that as well.

14:24 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Emily, I truly appreciate that. We will have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you. But I love that piece about you know the PR, the earned media so to speak, and be able to do great work and get other people to promote it and talk about it and have you on podcasts or mentions or whatever that might be. I think so many times we get caught in, I like to say building our own media company.

But if you can find somebody's media company, their podcast or blog where they're doing great things and you're able to showcase what it is that you do there, I think it creates a really great win-win opportunity. So I appreciate you for creating 1 of those opportunities for us, for the organizations you work for, and for the impact that you're having in the community. So appreciate you again for your time and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

15:10 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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