Non-Profit Storytelling

I thought I was going to be on a true crime podcast, so I'm already, I was here ready to solve mysteries and I feel like I've missed my calling. Unless we're doing marketing crimes. And then we can combine the two. We could probably have a whole And I've changed your whole podcast now. You have, yeah.

We're gonna have to have a whole episode dedicated to marketing crimes. It's a spin off. Yeah. Yeah.

Welcome to the Marketing Team in One podcast, where we have conversations about the issues one person marketing teams face when trying to meet their goals with limited time and budgets. Today on the podcast, I wanted to invite a guest in to talk about, um, some real world examples of, like, problems and, like, You're doing it all yourself.

It's, it can be tough. There's a lot of, there's a lot of things. So, this is Erika Futula. She is the, well, um, Tell everybody what your, what's your title? What's your, what's your day to day look like? What, what, what do you do there at, uh, River City Food Bank? All my hopes and dreams. Yeah. So I am the Director of Development and Marketing at River City Food Bank.

Um, this is going on my fifth year, which is pretty incredible. In a couple weeks, I'll be selling my, in my anniversary. Um, and so I handle all the fundraising and all the marketing. Um, and if you're not familiar with River City Food Bank, it's a local non profit in Sacramento. And we have two locations, one in Midtown and one in Arden.

And our whole mission is to alleviate hunger in Sacramento County by providing healthy, meaningful food to anyone. So it's a very welcoming space. Um, and it's been around for 56 years. So it's, um, it's amazing. We've done a lot of work, uh, done some volunteering and been really involved with my family and everything.

Um, and to see it over the years too, like, um, The mission hasn't been easy, right? Like there's, it's, um, food insecurity is a huge growing. It's been insane. And I would say even just over five, I mean, 56 years is a long time, but it's really been the most growth over the last five years. So when I started in 2019, right before the pandemic, we were serving an average of 11 to 12, 000 people.

per month, which is a lot because we have a really small staff. Um, then it was only about nine people. Now it's more, I think 16. So still really small, um, and grassroots. And, um, we went now, I think the last month we did 33, 000. So it's just been astronomical. And there's a, there's a bunch of different reasons for the growth.

You know, we thought when, when the pandemic hit and we went and saw that big leap up to like, 20, 000 were like, well, it can't get worse than this, right? This, this has to be it. And then there was, you know, stimulus checks and there was emergency CalFresh allotments and all different, um, like emergency aids for people.

Cause all of a sudden hunger was this big thing that people were paying attention to. It's always been there. It still is, but all of a sudden it was like, Oh, this could be me too. You know, people were getting fired and, and there was a lot of financial ramifications and it got a little bit better right after, um, because there was a lot of, of funding.

Allocated to it. And all of a sudden it was like, pandemic's over, emergency's done. Um, and we're like, Oh no, wait, wait, it's not. So it's, it's just got continued to get worse because of, um, inflation. So, so you've got all these other factors that are right. You've got, um, COVID funding, COVID programs have got dry, dried up completely.

Right. And you've got increased demand. You've got so many more families that need. need food and need, and inflation. Yeah. I mean, it's like the perfect storm. It's right. So gosh, I mean, and. you in your position, you're, you have to help bring that all together. Right. And be able to help. I mean, so it's a lot to do, right?

Like to try, right. So, so in your day to day, you're, I mean, you're in charge of fundraising, you're overseeing all of the marketing. I mean, do you have like a, how do you divide up your like, are they really closely aligned? Or are there a lot of times where you see yourself like, all right, I'm putting on my fundraising hat and then here I'm putting on my marketing hat.

That's exactly right. I mean, there are times where they intersect. Um, and I think it's helpful that I do both. In, in my day to day, I kind of have to balance my time between the two and, and I started out as a, as a team of one and now I do have, uh, two full time staff members and one does helps me with fundraising and one helps with, with marketing and they're incredible.

It's a lot of, of guiding and reviewing and being a creative director and then turning around and okay, we have a grant that's due. So I'm using one side of my brain and then I'm using the other side and I think that's awesome and it helps keep me grounded and, um, I like the challenge of doing both, but it can be overwhelming because it really is two separate things and two separate departments.

And, you know, I've worked at large non profits where they have a fundraising department and a marketing department and, What I like about it being one of the same where we are in our small nonprofit is that you are more cohesive in, in what you put out because, you know, in those larger nonprofits what I found and that might be my own personal experience, but they're very separate.

The developments like the red headed stepchild of the organization, no one really quite knows what's going on over there, but they know money's happening and then marketing is more of a Um, the whole organization and they don't always talk to each other, you know, so you're putting materials out there without these departments input. And so I think you can tell when that's the case. Whereas me, when I started, I was, you know, fundraising and, but as out of necessity, I learned marketing. There was no marketing person, let alone a marketing department. I was like, okay, well, let's do this. Let's figure it out. Um, and we've built that up over the past five years.

Um, but I think being able to say, okay, this material serves the whole organization and this serves fundraising. But how can we keep it cohesive and, um, make it look like we talk to each other? So yeah, I think that's helpful and challenging. How do you, um, that's a really unique problem because like when you're doing it all yourself, it's really easy to keep that cohesiveness, right?

You've got that, you know how you would say this thing, you know, you know who you're saying it to and you know what the purpose is. But when you start that kind of like, you're in this like incremental, like, growth thing where now, like you said, you've got somebody in fundraising, somebody to help you in marketing.

Do you have tricks that you or like little guidance that you can use? How do you promote that consistency across those, those two? And sometimes it's not, sometimes it takes time and you know, it takes a lot of time to get into a groove with, um, with their styles, communication styles. And, and I had to learn a lot about, I was used to doing everything myself.

So it's like, it's easier to be like, I'll just do it. I'll just, let me just do it because it's easier because I don't know how to explain what I want it to look like. Or, you know, so I've had to learn, okay, I'll create a mock up if I don't know. And then that guides them, at least they're not wasting their time.

Um, we communicate a lot, um, especially with marketing about this is the idea, but don't, don't take offense when I completely changed this, you know, but I also, because I'm the one that did it before, I know how much time goes into it. So I, I. can be thoughtful in my ass. And cause sometimes if you have someone that's in charge that has never created a campaign or anything, and there'll be like these crazy, unrealistic goals and expectations.

And, um, I, I at least know that I could step in and I know how long things take. So I feel like I can provide guidance, but when it comes to like the voice and consistency, I'm still, I'm still the one that's going to be at the finish line. I'm going to look at it, make sure does this fit, um, and it just, after, you know, working together for a few years, you just, you just know.

Just like with my boss, I know there's certain things that, um, that she wants me to say in a certain way, and eventually it just becomes second nature. Yeah. How you say it. Yeah. It's, um, it sounds like you've kind of, we like to call them the brand cops, but you've kind of become the brand cop at the food bank, right?

Like there's a lot of nonprofits out there, right. And like trying to set yourself apart. And I know here in Sacramento, there is a lot of confusion between, you know, River City Food Bank and Sacramento Food Bank. And you're, what you do is different, but like, so it is really important to be able to have a. be consistent and but also differentiate. How do you, do you have any things that you've done over the time to kind of try and stand out from a lot of, it can be a little noisy in the nonprofit space, right? Like you're competing against a bunch of people. How does it is definitely difficult to be unique Um, and you are, but it's how to, how to display that in the best way.

And what, what I found is really helpful, um, is storytelling. So we really, I think, and I think we've built that into our brain so effortlessly because it's just a part of, What River City Food Bank is and does in the community and we've we've become so Guest we call our the people we serve guests. We're so guest focused And not everyone knows what a food bank does or and we're a little different, you know We're unique in how we serve and so the best way to do that is to show people bring the food bank to them. So we try to incorporate as much storytelling into everything we do consistently across all Platforms could be social media Our printed appeals, uh, things that we say just in speaking presentations and not only storytelling but being completely transparent and authentic.

These are real stories. These are real people. And We're humbled because that's someone's life. We're, we're seeing them in the most vulnerable and difficult times where they, it's not easy to ask for help. Um, so that's one of the challenges of storytelling. Um, but I think that is what makes us unique is that we, we can show you this diverse population that we serve.

And these are real people because it's one thing to say, Oh, we served 300, 000 people last year and that's great and that's impactful. And it's true. Um, but it's another thing to say. Here's Sarah. She's a single mom of three kids. She's here today because she's been skipping dinner. Because even though she has two jobs, it's still not enough.

And so, this is her story. And the, the hope is that, well there's a few things, because one of the other challenges is just having a bunch of different populations and audiences that you're putting your message out to. I mean, so that was actually one of the questions I wanted to talk about is, um, I could think of at least three different audiences of people that you're trying to reach and everything you, um, you've got your guests, right?

Um, and focusing on them, do you? Do you find that you're do, that some of your marketing is to let people know that you exist to help them? Mm-Hmm. , do you like, is that a big percentage of the time that you have the marketing that you're trying to do is let people know that they can get healthy, healthy meals?

That, and, um, they don't have to choose between food and rent at this point, you know, like, is that a big part of it? Yeah, it is. And it's, and that's the marketing side, because that's not the fundraising side. Yeah. So it's thinking, okay. When you're creating something is who's my audience and does this serve them?

And when you have this diverse population of guests that you're serving, it's, you have to have translated materials. We serve a huge number of refugees, um, especially at our, our Arden site. So, you know, is this in all the languages we need it to be in? I mean, just to unpack that, I mean, you've got what, there's probably five or six different languages commonly spoken across, across the two different ones.

Right. So. It's probably closer to 20, they said. Whoa, really? But consistently, there's a, I think the majority is like a, um, Farsi, Dari, Pashto, Ukrainian, Russian, Spanish, and it's and Chinese. Yeah, yeah, and so you've got to have, one, have a consistent message and have it translated to numerous different languages. Yeah, in which messages can, can be changed because it's not the same across.

Because like, I'm guessing the, what, what draws people in from one demographic might not be exactly like some of the other little storytelling things might. Do you, have you found any challenges with, um, what, what they actually respond to in that messaging? Well, so there's a couple of different things.

There's with the storytelling aspect, the hope is that someone will see themselves in a story because we want them to see like, Here's a senior. They also had a retirement plan and worked their whole lives, but here they are in line at the food bank and Maybe I can go there too because they're just like me and so that the hope is that you'll see it's a safe space People are here just like you it's not exactly what you would think it is that people that need the food bank You'd imagine.

Oh, they're getting cans and it's everyone is Unsheltered or homeless and it's not that's like 15 percent of who we serve and the rest are working families and seniors and So by storytelling for our guests, we're, we're hopeful that they'll see that it's okay that there's, there's a stigma in getting help and that, um, that it's a safe space to be.

Yep. And, um, When we're creating materials for people, we have to think, um, more on, is this accessible to people? So, do we need to have a video where we say it all? Because someone might not be able to read this. Or, you know, do we make sure we're not using jargon words? Sometimes it's storytelling and sometimes it's accessibility.

And I think it, you need all that combined. Accessibility is such a huge, huge, um, how do you get the feedback or like, do you solicit feedback from, do you have like representatives for different areas to kind of like bounce some of the stuff off of when it comes to that? I think some of our biggest like ambassadors are our volunteers.

They're the ones on the front lines with our staff that are hearing all the feedback and we have staff and volunteers that speak a variety of languages. So it's helpful to kind of check in as, you know, is it the the best food that we're giving them because we want to give them meaningful food. So we check in about that.

Um, and then also when our team is going out and getting stories, we're getting that feedback sometimes too. Um, and, and I think you'll find even in marketing, you can make the best material. You could put everything out there and there's still going to be confusions or people that don't see it, or, I mean, you can't possibly hit all of the challenges.

How much easier would it be if we could. Right. And because of budget constraints, there's only so much we can do with accessibility. Oh, totally. You know, we can't have a bunch of software or things like that. So we're trying to do what we, what we can with the limited means that we have. Yeah. Yeah. So one, one thing that I've found really interesting and I was hoping you could talk a little bit about is one of the, um, one of your initiatives that, um, in the line.

Yeah. And like, could you talk a little bit about like what in the line is and how it came about and, and what you've, how. How that's been received. Sure, sure. Um, and we actually are pretty Putting one out today. Awesome. So, um, in the line is part of our storytelling effort. So we have it's challenging to get stories in general Because people like I said, it's a really hard time.

They're in line. They're hungry. They're outside So they're probably hot or cold or whatever. So it's always a challenge to say hey, I know this is a bad time, but can I hear your life story? So, you know, we're, we always just try and, and build relationships. And, um, and part of that is we have these polished stories.

They're always real and authentic, but sometimes it's a campaign and we, it's a little more, Like, here's, here's Mike, and he's at the food bank for this reason, and here's, and it's more, it's hopeful, um, but it's a little more polished in its presentation. In the line is not, um, it is meant to be more raw, um, because what we came across is, we're seeing people interviewing after they get food, this is while they're in the line to get food, and it's not really like, what's your, what's your, What's your whole life story?

It's like, where are you at right now? How is life? Because I think it's important to, to understand our community and the situations that people, that bring them to the food bank. Yeah. And one of the challenges we also found was a lot of people don't want their face on camera or, you know, they, for a variety of reasons.

And sometimes it's because they feel some shame. Um, they don't want their neighbors or family knowing that they're there. And in other times, because we serve so many refugees, it's literally because their life is in danger. Yeah. Or it's a domestic violence situation, also life is in danger. So, we're like, but they have these amazing stories.

Mm hmm. And how can we, how can we put their truth out there while also keeping them safe? and confidential. And that's where In The Line came in. We're still kind of working out the kinks, but it's just meant to be raw, short clips of, of people without, and they usually share their name and we tell them and they don't have to, but the idea is that if we don't have their face on things, maybe people would feel more comfortable talking about their story without feeling some of I've thought that it's such a, when we talked about it before, I thought it was such a creative idea to end how you kind of worked around some of those common problems specifically around like security and confidentiality and, and, but still have a good way of telling that story.

I thought that was really kind of a, it was a good way of creative thinking around the problem, right? And which is so key, right? Like there's so much of, you've got a limited time, limited budgets, right? So you got, you got to think about some of those kind of different ways to get stuff out there. And it's still hard because what happens is we'll, we'll go to interview someone and they want so badly to be like, we love River City.

And it makes us so happy to hear that. But no, you don't have to, you don't have to say that, you know, we just want to hear about you and your.... So sometimes in trying to get. that, that raw story that we hear when we're not recording. It is sometimes more difficult to capture it when we are, when people know that we are.

So like, Oh, well, we want to, we want to tell people how much we appreciate you. And we're like, no, no, this is just about you. So we're learning, we're learning the right questions to ask and how to ask it and when to ask it. And when it's 106 degrees today, it's probably not the right time to ask it. So we're learning a lot of things.

So, um, I'm just curious, like with, With in the line, and you're, you've, um, trying to get people to open up and tell their story, um, you've removed some barriers by making it more confidential, and kind of, there's more security in that. Do you find that it's easier to get people to tell your story because of the, there's less objections?

Um. Yeah, I, I think it has been helpful. We're, it's still working on, Building that trust because some people are coming once and never again. Some people come every week. So I think it helps to know And build a relationship with them. So oftentimes It's our guests who are unsheltered who feel more the most comfortable sharing their stories and then we have to work on the the the families and the seniors and Because even though their face isn't being shown it's still, you know, it's still hard to be vulnerable Yeah, and especially for our refugees because there is a language barrier So I'll try and ask one of our volunteers or staff members that speaks our language But they've been gone.

They've gone through so much trauma Yeah. And even though they trust us as a food bank, um, I'm, they don't know me. Yeah. You know, they don't know my, my team. Mm-Hmm. . So it's sometimes it takes a bit of, of working with them and talking with them and, um, and so I think that's still kind of the struggle because for our refugees that we have, I don't know if you're familiar with, with Arden is like number one in the whole nation for resettled Afghan refugees.

Yeah. And when the Taliban, uh, took over and people escaped. I mean, there's people that hear that if, if their names or faces were out there, like their family's still back there. So, it is, to them, it's not even worth the risk. Like, what if someone hears my voice? Or, you know, sometimes it's not even anonymous enough.

Yeah. They, we can say that we're not going to use their face, but, if they don't necessarily know you, it might be hard to trust given all the things that they've been through. So we're working on building that with people and it takes a bit of time to get their stories. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I wanted to shift gears a little bit and talk a little bit cause I mean, fundraising is a huge, huge thing, right?

Like that's, that's one of the big engines that, that drives the food. Apparently you need money to do stuff. I know, it's crazy. Um, and so, When we think about marketing and, and things you can do to, um, there, it drives me to one of the other key audiences that you're, that I think you have to talk to. And that's, that's donors, right?

Like, um, there's always, there's grants as well, but I think like talking specifically to donors and like how The storytelling helps with that, right? Like, cause they see immediately who they're, um, who they're making an impact, who their money's going to and everything like that. But what, um, what other things have you found like in trying to, trying to wearing that marketing hat and the fundraising hat a little bit, that, that.

Too many hats. Too many hats. Too many hats. Oh my gosh. But, um, like what, what have you found when trying to, Be creative and reach that market with, with your, um, or that audience, I should say. Yeah, it's storytelling. Also, like you said, plays a big part in that and it's the The stakeholders and the grant funders and it's like I said before those big numbers They want they want those but it's really about the impact you're making on specific people.

So I think that is super helpful um, but It's not we can't lean and we can't rely completely You On that. So it's this combination of, it's this balancing act all the time. There's a story and here's a statistic and here's some recognition. And, and I think it's very individualized. And I think that's what fundraising is in that you are, you're customizing every experience to the person.

It's difficult to do that. Yeah. Um, but you really have to put a lot of effort into not, you're not casting A wide net, but you're being very strategic. Yeah, because you I'm not a car salesman I don't want to sell you on what we do. I want to connect what we do with people who are passionate about helping people And I think you know if I had to say the biggest part of of what makes marketing successful in fundraising is emotional intelligence.

And it's being able to connect and empathize with whom, whomever the audience is, whether that's supporters or guests, is meeting people where they're at, whether that's a business professional or someone in our line. And it takes a lot of time and effort. Um, and so often I would say I focus more, at least nowadays, on quality over quantity in everything I do.

Oh yeah, right? There's, I mean, especially now with like the rise of AI tools and everything, I think you could Everyone's going to try a quantity game, right? Like you, it's not too hard to, to do that. Right. But like nothing's going to stand out in, in that thing. So I think the quality focusing on the quality is really good.

I think, um, do you find that you, I'm sure there's some like, tools in your belt, right? That you, you can use consistently across them, right? Like, even if you're being kind of empathetic and meeting people where they're at, there's certain things like, I'm assuming, like your mission's probably driving everything, right?

Absolutely. Like that's one of the key things in your belt, right? And then you've got I mean, you've got really compelling numbers. Like I, I was looking through your impact report, right? And everything that you're, how many people you're serving, how many pounds of food you're delivering to directly to people.

Those are all great things in there. But so what you're kind of doing when meeting with say, um, what was the word you used to, I loved it. It was a supporter, supporter, right? Like you're like anyone who's supporting, right? Each one's going to have their own, you know, Needs or, and you're meeting them where they're at, but you can kind of mix and match some of those tools and have like a, a, a high quality conversation with them.

Right. So it's not always, it's not like you've got this deck, boiler plate Yeah. That you're just like, here, we do this and we do this, and we do this. Right. Yeah. That would be, and, and part it wouldn't work. Right. Part of that is, is the meeting with people and getting to know them and what their passion is because.

It might be that they grew up and they were homeless or needed food and, you know, that's what drives them or it might be a tax reason. It might be that it's a corporation and that's one of their guiding principles is, is basic needs. So it's really, it's being thoughtful. Um, and taking the time to learn what drives people's motivation to give, um, and, and it's difficult to do that when you're doing like a printed appeal or something like that because it's going out to a large group of people.

But what you can do again, quality over quantity is you're not bombarding people with just whatever, whatever you can put out that month, you know, cause I've been at nonprofits where they had these like huge direct mail programs and, And it must be some kind of ROI or they wouldn't do it, but it's casting this wide net and, and I feel like that's just not what I want to do.

I'd rather, I do three printed appeals and that feels like a lot to me sometimes is, but I want to put something together that it means something or it's just a waste of, of our resources and your time. And really then we're not being good stewards of your money because we're wasting it on printing things and sending it, you know?

So it's, it's part of it is also is being strategic and. Who you're sending what to, so if I know that you only give online and that's how you prefer to give, I'm not going to send you a printed appeal. That doesn't, that's a waste of your time. Definitely. But also, there's so, like you said, hundreds if not thousands of nonprofits in Sacramento, people are being inundated with causes.

Yeah. And so you don't want to get donor fatigue. You don't want to just put content out to put it out and just to be relevant. Yeah. So I think that's what I've, I've found is. When I first started doing fundraising and marketing this need to be like, okay, I gotta put stuff out. I gotta you know I have to to come up with this content and now I'm like, do we need this?

Yeah, does this fit a need or mission? It does this serve a purpose for our guests? Does this fulfill our core values? And if it doesn't let's not waste our time doing it because our time is valuable That's such a good filter to you know, because it'd be really easy to get paid Focused on the wrong thing and spend a lot of time and like you said like money too on something that's not gonna get The, the return on investment is not going to be very high at all.

Yeah, no, I think that's an amazing. We got to buy food. And so that's what our, we're still this need and we're like, okay, what, what can we, it's this balancing act of, you got to be creative, but you can't spend money and, uh, you, you got to get money in, but again, you can't spend money. And so it's, you're trying to be always being consistent, but being unique.

Yeah. And it's like how, and I don't always get it right, but it's trying to, it's al it's always testing new things. Yeah. Figuring out what kind of works. Oh, that looked good. Let, let's see if we can, and if it, and if it fits your mission and your values, then even if it didn't work out, at least I feel like.

It's like you didn't take a big swing that is outside your comfort zone. Then you'd probably feel like you need to take a long, long cold shower or something. Just wash it all off or something. Right. Like I was transparent and I, and I, and I was a good, you know, like I, I believe fully in being transparent with donors and in challenges and, and things that come up every year.

Cause God, they do. They on weird expenses or emergencies that happen. And, and I think it's just always about being up front and honest Um, with whomever it is, whether it's a in kind or a monetary donor or just a hunger advocate, that's, out there raising awareness for what you do.. So I think that as long as I get the end of the day, even if a campaign flopped, um, if I felt good about what it looked like and how it represented the food bank, then I'm good with that.

That's good. Just for example, in February we did a little Valentine's day campaign and I didn't want to spend money nor do I had the budget to do something new. So it was all digital. The only thing it costs is my time. Um, and it didn't. It was adorable. I might say like it was super cute little Valentine's day cards.

Um, and I felt good about it, but it didn't really bring any money in, but it also didn't cost anything. So, um, there that's one thing. And then recently we just did, uh, a summer hunger, um, like a e-appeal again, doesn't cost any money, but we, there are a lot of people who struggle, especially families in the summer months.

And we used to way back in the day before the pandemic did a printed summer appeal. But I've had to move that because our, our Empty Bowls event that we have used to be in the spring, now it's at the end, and I don't want to stack people up with asks month after month. So, so I, um, I really try to focus on what can we do digitally and try out and then if it, if it feels like it's a good fit, then we can maybe work that into the budget the following year. Um, so it's just, again, it's a balancing act and, and I think I just have to trust myself. I've been doing it for a long time so I can kind of gauge when I think something's going to be worth it.

Um, and. I think testing it out when it's not gonna cost you and it's more of a kind of a digital test that helps I think it's really though. You're not you're not taking like huge big like moonshot Ideas right like you're like, let's Let's test small. Let's do, you know, um, avoid printing costs and shit, you know, like postage costs and stuff like that.

Try out the little things. I think that's a good idea. Like just digitally, a digital test ground. And then asking a bunch of people, like I'll try and have as much people as I can read it. And like, how does it resonate with you? Is this too long? Cause I'm very wordy. So just having different people look at it, um, and see if it's, If it's impactful.

And honestly, I'm the one that came up with the, with the deadline. So if it doesn't work out, we don't do it, but then we don't do it. Yeah. You know, and it's, I would rather put something out there that I was proud of. And if I think it's not going to be completely. Uh, like a good representation of us. I'd rather just pull it completely.

Um, one thing I was curious about is with your marketing efforts and, and especially when it talks, when you talk about supporters, do you, do you find that your, um, You get some surprise like big supporters out of those efforts or do you find that you're you're most of its more targeted? Like that that balancing act.

I mean, it would be great If you had a whole bunch of big ones coming out of the woodwork I would be great like but like yeah, do you find that at all or does it do you have to be more? selective You know in the market, there's that idea of like an account based marketing strategy where you've got this You've got a target and everything you're doing is Very tuned to that target and we talked a little bit about like how you target the message to the people you're talking to Just expanding it to a marketing side, but I'm just curious.

Do you have Is is your efforts or are they more? Pointed towards that kind of really tailored approach or do you do you get some surprises out of? Oh, we have surprises every year So it's it's right. We always call them anomalies because we know that we don't we can't ever count on The same gift every year, but we know that something random will happen Yeah, and and I think we do have a really amazing dedicated loyal donor base And so there are Certain people that I know will always be forever supporters.

And then there's other ones like grant funders who it's never Guaranteed you can get funded every year for five years. And all of a sudden like we changed our our Guideline and all of a sudden they're they're not a funder anymore. So it is Interesting. Yeah, you can't ever every year. I'm like, hope people give yeah Hope hope we get money in because it's never guaranteed.

Yeah, especially in Inflation right now, our donors are also getting hit with these extra costs. Some of our donors have often been guests, you know, and And corporations are seeing more applications for funding, and they have smaller budgets. So it's like, okay, our expenses have went up, fundraising's harder.

Yeah. Um, and you're just constantly going, okay, now what can we do now? What can we do? And I think it's just being strategic about it and knowing that there are going to be anomalies, but you should never. They put them out of your head that that money doesn't exist. It's a very nice to have Yeah, but but yeah, nothing you pretend it's not gonna happen because it might not it's never it's never guaranteed And I think with marketing and just stewardship in general with your donors is you're putting seeds out there And and i'll put things out into the world.

I go. Well, I hope they liked it. I hope that worked Um, and you don't always know if that big check that came in was because of something you put out but I think It is even if it's not directly. To tied to a campaign. I think when you're working hard and you are building a brand that people trust and you're being transparent authentic and you're putting stuff out year over year and people see that and give To you it might not been that appeal that you sent out But when you did like two years ago, right?

And they're just kind of like you said planted that seed and it's slowly grown and that's and sometimes that is what's funny There's like oh Hope it's working. Yeah. Uh, and that's and so far it's, but it's definitely a struggle. So I wanted to, I think you, um, I'm guessing that you're probably right in the middle of one of your big, kind of like at this point in time, you're in the middle of your biggest campaign of the year.

This is the crying couch, eh? Yeah, it is. I, I wanted to, so like, um, one, I was hoping you could tell people about empty bowls. Sure. Tell 'em exactly what. What it's about and um, but then I would love to peel back and like hear, because I'm assuming there's some big challenges that you've got Right now in trying to promote it.

You would assume, right. Yes Empty bowls is our one and only fundraiser of the year and it has changed a lot This is the 21st year and in case you're wondering sponsorships and tickets are available It's on September 19th at the Sacramento Zoo, which is awesome And it's really Um, it's really changed over the years because of COVID.

Uh, so this is the 21st year and my fifth year, but I've never actually been to an original Empty Bowls because when, you know, it was, it was a lot bigger and it was in the convention center. Um, it had like a big committee and then we, our 2020 date was March 17th, 2020. So I don't know if you're familiar with that.

A little something happened that week and, and everything. Patrick's day, right? Exactly. It was St. Patrick's day. I'm so, I'm so impressed with you. Uh, yeah. So that was when everything shut down and all of a sudden we were prepared to have this event, which brings in at that point, it was. Uh, a third of our budget.

Yeah. Um, now it's a little, it's a little more diverse, uh, but we didn't know what to do and we had to move our entire event virtual. Yeah. In months. And so we did that for a couple of years. We did a virtual and we had amazing sponsors and supporters. And then we knew when we went back in person in 2022, that we had to, we couldn't go back inside because we still, we weren't sure if there was going to be a resurgence and we want to keep people safe and we didn't have the same kind of committee or staff support.

So. again, work, work smarter, harder. Um, how can we raise more money with less people coming? Um, which is his own challenge and still have more sponsorships and, and all that fun stuff. So, um, we have to raise, I think it's 400, 000. For our event and every single dollar goes to our program expenses So it's so important to have unrestricted funding which is what what that is And and so we have all this food that we're we're purchasing because of the need that we're seeing we have Emergencies that come up and what the unrestricted funding does is it helps us plug those holes.

Yeah, wherever they might be. Yep, and It's so critical and we only have one event because we don't have events team. It's me. It's my it's my team It's a couple of us doing this huge Gala, essentially. So now we went through from having 1200 people come to 350 people come in and now it's outside at the zoo Which is a lot of fun But we've had to have the challenges of how do we how do we promote?

Sponsors, uh, when we weren't having an in person event, it was just virtual, and how do we maintain that now that we're in person, but we have a, like, a fraction of the people that used to come, so there's not as many ticket sales, and it's a, it's a lot to, um, And there's a lot of marketing involved in that too, all the materials, the promotion, um.

Yeah. Don't remind me. We're in the thick of it. I mean, I think I've been to the last three events and it's, it's so unique. It's so, um, charming. I think that, and I'm always impressed with, What you've done to put it together and it, it, it seems, it seems like an overwhelming success for given all those pivots you've had to make over the time.

Do you, do you still, do you feel that way still that you're like, are you able to pat yourself on the back and kind of, I think anyone that knows me knows I will. I don't, I'm not good at that. I, I will be like, we, we hit the goal or surpassed it, but you didn't see this. This happened at the back end of this, this, this and they're like.

Erica that it says, but you hit your goal. But, it could have been better. Yeah, so I think I'm always motivated to improve the experience because there's always room for improvement, but I do feel like we've done a great job To fundraise in a climate that's not always easy to fundraise in with an amazing Group of sponsors and supporters who have been with us some some of them for a full 21 years that we've been doing it And we have these beautiful handmade bowls that you know, when I first started, I was like, why are people so, they love these bowls.

And some are from amateur potters, some are professional potters. And then when I saw them, I'm like, I get it. I want these bowls. I want bowls every year. And there's people that come for the bowls. And so the, these beautiful, um, and they're all different kinds and styles. And they're really just a representation of filling, filling people's, bowls because there's so much hunger and this is how we're making an impact.

And so when you look at this bowl, know that you're helping someone in the community. So I just think it's so cool and unique. Um, and, and you get to be at the zoo, which is really cool. Yeah. It's, it's really, there's something really strange, uh, eating, you know, 20 feet from the lemur cage, you know, and, and, but it's so entertaining too, just to be able to kind of, I don't, it's such, I've, I've never.

Been to a event that seemed so unique and I think it's just it's it's fantastic I think when you're when you're planning something and you're in it, it's hard to see. Yeah Yeah, if if it's if people enjoyed it or it's it's like so I appreciate hearing that. Yeah, we work really hard to To, um, it's not easy and, and we only do one event because it's so cumbersome to have, to have events.

So much work, right? When non profits have like, something every month or every quarter, I'm like, how do you do it? You need like a whole events team, so I think. One's enough for me. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely, right? Yeah, so you're in the middle of promoting Empty Bowls Do you find that getting selling tickets is the hardest thing or is it getting the sponsorships like?

Like which one's bigger challenge when it comes like you're you're in the thick of it now, right? I'd say both challenges for different reasons Because we went down to such a smaller set we have this very large sponsorship goal And so tickets are tied to sponsorship I have to make sure that we hit our sponsorship goal and I can't start selling tickets until I know that that's covered because if I oversell our 350 limit then I would I would be in trouble So it's trying to balance the the two and knowing when the right time is that we're gonna hit our sponsor goals I think it is I'm finding it difficult last year and this year in fundraising in that a lot of companies just don't have that extra income to put towards sponsorship they want to support.

Um, and I'm also finding it difficult with ticket sales, um, for the same reason. We, we've had to increase the ticket price because everything has gotten more expensive. The food, the A. V., the printing, and so we want to make sure that we still, Bring in the money because we're relying on that for our budget to to purchase foods to healthy food for people So it's we have to keep it there But then a lot of folks just don't have the ability to do that So we also send out a printed appeal to a larger group that we know aren't able to Come to the event for a variety of reasons and hope that they still might want to support us and that goes to the event um, uh the total fundraising that we do.

So I, I think there's, it's difficult. And I think every events like that you're trying to promote, there's so much going on, especially we're having it in September. And that tends to be a large, uh, quantity of events going on. And that's when it really picks up, right? Kids go back to school. They know people are going to be home and then that goes back up again.

So, And I think it's helpful because our event's on a Thursday, so, for me as a parent, like, that, I'd rather a Thursday event that you're in and out a couple hours and, and instead of a whole weekend, um, so we hope that it's, it's quick, impactful, people have fun, and then they could go on with their week, um, but, yeah, it's, it's definitely, I think, difficult to, to Just deal with the expenses that are also going up and how to, how to have the same level of event with the same quality And you're asking people to pay this extra money You want to make sure that that's a good experience and that they got what they they paid for Yeah, and that can be hard I think harder even than getting sponsorships.

Do you that's got to be a Everyone there knows the mission, right? Everyone who attends Empty Bowls, they know that mission. No, no, no. You know why? Because you have sponsorships. So a lot of times companies are, are bringing, They buy a table. Yeah, they buy a table and then they're bringing, which is amazing because we want to have new people learn about the food bank.

But that's why our video is so important. Yes. In our program. Because we, we have to bring the food bank to you. And even people who might support us, our food bank has changed so much since, since COVID that even people who had been around volunteering pre, pre COVID might not necessarily see it the same because it's changed out of necessity.

So it's cool to each year kind of show people who we are and what we do because a lot of our guests have never heard of us before. That's so interesting. Yeah. Sorry, that was a big assumption. I was jumping, jumping to a big assumption that everybody knows the mission. But, but we also, with sponsorships a lot, they're not always companies.

We have a lot of our individual large donors who provide sponsorships. They get the tables, they support that way. So they've been with us for decades. So I'd say half the audience are people that are learning about us. And the other half are diehard supporters who go year after year. It's a really cool mixture of people.

And they're all there for the same reason, they, this, it seems like a fun event for a really amazing non profit and they're there to support us. And so I think it's, it's a really good opportunity to tell our story in a way that's compelling for people who know us and also for people who don't. Yeah, the video, the video portion is so Great.

I mean, the last few examples you've had, like, I mean, there's, uh, I'm thinking of, I think it was two years ago, the story of the, it was the, was it the Russian refugee and the, how they found the food bank and got so involved that they then were able to, um, volunteer and became such so ingrained in that was so I don't know how you could leave that event and not feel like What else can I do?

How what more can I do to help? It was an intense it and the their daughter was adorable and she had artwork there that she was she was uh, Really into to painting and she made this beautiful painting for us that we were auctioning off that night And she came up to me and she's like what if no one likes it and I'm like, are you kidding me?

Everyone's gonna love it. They're gonna battle over this thing and it didn't they did and she just was so excited. That's Amazing moment. Yeah, that was that was An amazing story of, um, resilience that I couldn't even comprehend of a family. It was very, yeah, I think it was very good. And I think, I would hope that anybody, all those people who are just learning, learned so much, came away with that, with just such a really good idea.

Of what you're all about and who you ultimately are helping and that all that Everything that they were that was done there was in the service of those people yeah, it's again the the transparency of like we This is who we are and we hope you like us. We hope you want to support us If not, that's okay to you.

Thanks for coming and learning about us and we appreciate that and It's just a really good opportunity Because it's difficult when you make the video Because you don't know exactly what to focus on to make it a little different You Because what we do is what we do. It's not it's it's the same. We're given food.

Here's the food We do it, you know with with compassion and dignity and respect But how do you convey that in a meaningful way in like five minutes so that people are like yes Please take my money and support your organization And so that in itself is a challenge and especially after we had the incredible family that did their testimonial We're like, well, how do we?

How do we follow up with that? Right. Yeah. And so last year we, we wanted to focus on how diverse our population is. So you see both sites in, although we serve the entirety of Sacramento, people go to these very specific sites that. that make this sense for them. So we see certain populations and it looks so different, even though we serve the same and, um, being able to give people in the audience a glimpse into what that looks like.

Here's this beautiful, fresh fruits and vegetables. It's not just cans. It's, um, we have refugees. We make sure we have halal meats available. We have our homeless folks that come. Uh, we have an, we have a table specifically for people who don't have access to a kitchen. So, you know, we want you to know that not only are we providing healthy food with your, with your generous contributions, that it's meaningful.

Food is so important beyond just fulfilling a basic need. It connects us. And so we're trying to, to show the audience how that can impact them. You may have never experienced hunger, but how can we show you how close that is to you. Um, especially with seeing a senior, that could be your parent. We're seeing so many college students that are experiencing hunger.

There's a huge spike in it. And so I think when you bring that to an audience and you're like, Oh, my kid's in college or my parent is, uh, is living in a different state. What could that be them? Yeah. And I think that's just a moment where you're not trying to feel like dread or doom. It's more like, a sense of call to action of this is a big problem, but we can all do stuff.

Here's this very specific people that we can make a difference in their lives. And I think that's such a important part and just difficult to wrap up in this five, five minute video. So that can be a challenge sometimes. Do you feel pressure to kind of change up? Some of the, I wouldn't say messaging, but you're, because the, the, there's, the mission doesn't change the, the, but it is, Do you feel pressure to kind of keep things fresh?

Do you have any things you've done to try and put a fresh spin on? You know, I think sometimes I try to and then I end up going right back to an extent. I think it feels repetitive to me because I'm reading it over and over and over again. You're so close to it, right? Yeah, but in reality people aren't seeing it as often as I am.

They're not tracking every social media post and going, Oh, see she said that word again, you know, she's using that phrase again. It, so, so it's like, if it's not broken, don't fix it. Because what happens is you start straying and I will start playing around with how I say things. I'm like, yeah, but that doesn't really sound, that sounds like me, but that doesn't sound like us.

And so it's a very, I have to try and tamp that down sometimes of like, you can be creative and try to do things, but don't try to. sound so different that you move away from what makes your organization special. Yeah, one thing I wanted to ask you about is the let's say confusion and the partnership but between you and the River City Food Bank and Sacramento Food Bank, right because there's It's a complimentary relationship, but there, but you are unique.

You are different. You're doing, um, could you explain a little bit of the difference between there and maybe work you're doing to let people know what that difference is? Sure. Yeah. So Sacramento Food Bank is an incredible partner. We could not operate without them. Um, they are a feeding America food bank.

So a little bit larger, um, every region has a feeding America food bank. It's kind of, I would explain it being the, the wholesaler. You know, so they, they have really a large warehouse. They have over a hundred partner agencies that they work with and they're the, the hub and we're the, we're the spokes, the boots on the ground, direct service.

So we're a bit smaller, um, and they, they help provide resources to us. So we do have to purchase a lot of the food we get, but they, they help with, um, getting some of the product that we, Give us especially our like non perishable goods Um, but they also work with grocery store partners to help get some of those donations in which is super helpful so they they're a great resource and honestly when we saw a Huge spike in need during the pandemic.

They we wouldn't have been able to make it without them. So great partners and And we are different and I think that what happens is people hear food bank and they kind of think we're all connected On the back end of oh, you all share the same website or the same budget or the same board. We're Separate.

Yeah, so although you know all the food banks are We share resources. We try to work together because hunger is such a big issue, especially in Sacramento, which is a huge region. Uh, we, we all do it very differently and it can be a challenge sometimes to be like, support them, but also us. And it's like, we're all fighting for the same cause.

It's like, this is all like you're rooting for each other really competitors, but there is this wanting to differentiate the message a little bit, especially if like you're doing a, I think it's fair to say you're doing a lot more direct service. You're you're like Sacramento food bank does do direct service, but not to the extent that you're doing for distributions a week, right?

They do a lot of the. Providing of food so they have I mean they have a huge warehouse and they really Help us get connected to food that we might not otherwise have access to which is super important And we're so much smaller. So it's it's just trying to educate like we hope you support both of us.

Yeah, you know because hunger is such a big pervasive issue. And it's the same with, it's not, we're not competitors. It's the same with any nonprofit. We're all applying for grants. I hope you get it too. Um, but I also hope I get it and it's just, so all you can do again is being authentic and saying, this is how we serve.

This is the impact we make, um, and hope that that resonates with people and in finding the people that does resonate with it and just letting them know the difference. It doesn't mean like support us, not them. It's could you support us both? Yep. That would be great, um, because In the end, it all supports the community.

So I think we, what we've learned since the pandemic, especially is that we really all have to collaborate in order to be successful. Uh, and that sometimes is telling each other about grant opportunities with, with, you know, Sac Food Bank and other nonprofits. Like, did you check this out? Are you experiencing this same problem in fundraising?

Sometimes you think you're on an Island alone. So just talking to other professionals and nonprofits, or I have pallets of this food and we can't use it. Can you use that? Yeah, so I think it's just really important for all nonprofits to collaborate But it is hard in the marketing side of it to to showcase.

How are you unique? Yeah And we're still working on it. You know, it's a it's probably ever evolving that's exactly what I was gonna say. Yeah, it's just kind of pick on like we talked about the small tests, right? You have these little things that seem to be working and then just kind of Hopefully it's a small snowball that's going to get bigger and everything.

And then by the time you figure it out. Something changes. Yeah. Right. Then you have a pandemic or you have the next emergency and we're like, okay, now it's time to change. Yeah. Figure it out. Okay. The podcast is meant to speak to people who are really trying to do it all themselves and they're, um, spinning a lot of plates and everything.

And you, you, for a long time you were that person, right? Like, um, were there things that you learned over the time over when doing it all yourself, some like tips or tricks or little things that helped you survive and got to a point now where, which I think is probably an under current of all of our messaging is it's really hard to do it all yourself.

Um, and that sometimes you do need help and you, I think you've got to a point where you have that help now, but what did you do before you had that help? What were some things that helped you? I don't I'm using help a lot in this but HELP Yeah, yeah, I you know, I wish I had a really good answer for that. I think I just, often time I was just surviving.

I mean, yeah, it was reactive. I didn't have time to think about it. I just did it. Now I have more time to be thoughtful about things but in the moment I was trying to pick tools that were going to make my life a little easier because I fell into marketing. I started with fundraising and out of necessity I did marketing, but I had no clue what I was doing.

So I was trying to find things that were going to make my life a little bit easier. Um, since I didn't have all the experience with, with all the fancy platforms and softwares, uh, and then really trying to get other people's opinions on stuff because I was growing as a, as a, in a new nonprofit, as a marketing person that I'd never done this before.

And so I'm always having people check my work. Does this make sense? Is this meaningful? And, and, and I can see looking back how much I've grown over that time and then really having boundaries and not agreeing to ever to do everything. That's a hard thing to do. It is really hard. I'm still struggling with that.

But when you, your time is so precious and if you're doing marketing and fundraisers, or even if you're just doing marketing because it's its own heap of work, you really have to figure out if, if, if you're It's going to be worth your time. Um, and then you have to speak up and advocate for yourself because it's sometimes people are suggesting things.

They don't know how much time and effort is going to go into it. They're not doing it maliciously. They just think it's a really cool idea. And you have to say, no, I'm sorry. Here's the, and give reasons to get the context. Here's all the reasons why this isn't going to work. and come up with some, some solutions, uh, of like, you know, different things you can do.

Yeah. One thing that, um, comes up a lot in our conversations is, um, this idea of managing up, I think, um, that, um, and I think you hit on something really important, like that sometimes some, some weird expectations can get set because of, Not knowing, right? I'd love to hear you unpack that a little bit more about what, like, let's say I say that you're trying to let people know why either that's not a good idea or why it's not that it might be a good idea, but the timing's not right.

Like what are there some things that you've used when trying to set expectations? And I think. I think I'm really lucky that I have a board and executive director that trusts me and listens to me and says, we hired you as a professional in this and you, and we're going to trust that you have the best interests of the organization in mind.

Now, At the beginning, you might have to, you might necessarily haven't built that yet of like your reputation and delivering. So I think just providing context of like, okay, you, we, you want this done? Here's how much it's going to cost. Here's how much time it's going to take if you want that. Okay, great.

We're going to have to take some other stuff off. We have to prioritize. Um, and I think it's just having real conversations about. Whether or not it's worth the time because and if the person's still like yes, then we need to do this Okay, then that's what we'll focus on but then some other things have to go off of the plate and I think it goes down to that advocating for yourself and and Knowing that people are usually doing things with good intentions and We don't always get to do the projects that we want to do and sometimes you're gonna have to do something that you might not necessarily Think was the best option But now five years later Now that I'm supervising two full time people who are incredible, I'm always just trying to say I hired you for a reason.

I'm learning from you too. And I have the experience as far as the things that we've done here at the organization, but I I might make choices, but then I want to go, and what do you think? Yeah. Is this too much? Is it, and I, and I want to, because I've learned from all the different experiences I've had where I didn't always feel like I had the voice to make that, and I want to make sure that my team does.

But also, I've done your job by myself, so I know how hard it could be. I know how long things take. Um, and I have high expectations. Yeah, and and but I also can step in and help when it's needed which I think is helpful. Yeah, very much So yeah, I want to thank you for coming by and being a guest I think it's been really insightful and thinking a lot about being intentional about what you take on and And really just talking about a lot of the challenges that, especially if you're in this dual role of trying to market to serve the most people that you can, but also market to fund that need too.

It's a challenge. But, um, For other people who are interested, they want to get involved, they want to become supporters, what, what, what options do they have to help? Yeah, well, first I would say, please visit, uh, RiverSafetyBank. org. Um, we are always looking for volunteers. We have four distributions, uh, two locations each week, and we could not operate without volunteers.

So that's super important. And you can also see there's a little, uh, little button on there for empty bowls. If you're interested in, um, attending, that'd be awesome. And you can always just contact me and I could give you a tour and you can learn more about the food bank. Um, and if you ever need help. You are always welcome at River City Food Bank.

There is no judgment and there are no barriers. So we hope that we can just teach a little bit about what we do. Yeah Yeah, so they can reach you on the website. There is your email available there under staff. I'm under there my email’s there and then also we have Our little donate button up there.

Yep. So every Every $2 provides one healthy meal. So if you feel like you don't have a ton of money to give, uh, just know that it makes a huge impact because we have these partners and we're able to stretch every dollar, so that's fantastic. Every dollar counts. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Well, thanks for coming out.

Thank you. Yeah, it's awesome. I appreciate it. Thanks for tuning in for more information and other episodes, subscribe to the Marketing Team of One podcast on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify podcast networks. You can also chat with us on the r slash marketing team of one subreddit or visit marketingteamofone.com to learn more.