How Dana Snyder Is Reinventing Nonprofit Giving (Full Transcript)

[00:00:03] Speaker 1: I saw firsthand how little of our waste actually gets recycled.

[00:00:07] Speaker 2: This isn't just a project for me, this is my life's work.

[00:00:10] Speaker 1: Cultural identity is a defining conversation of our generation.

[00:00:13] Speaker 3: I'm on a mission to shift how an entire industry fundraises. Non-profits have been trapped in a cycle for generations, chasing one-time gifts, major donors, grants. But monthly giving changes that.

[00:00:28] Speaker 4: Hi Dana, how are you?

[00:00:30] Speaker 3: I'm good, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. It would have been easy to stop at any given point, but I love, I love what I do. And the impact of what I've been able to do and just the relationships that I've been able to build. And so much of it you don't really celebrate.

[00:00:52] Speaker 5: Here to share how non-profits can build and sustain their business amidst a rocky economy is fundraising strategist Dana Snyder. Nice to see you. It's so nice to be here.

[00:01:13] Speaker 3: So sustainable, predictable revenue equals monthly giving. Recurring revenue is so important right now. Not only for the non-profits to have sustainable funding with everything that's going on, but also for the consumer.

[00:01:28] Speaker 6: Welcome, welcome, welcome everybody to the second annual monthly giving summit.

[00:01:34] Speaker 3: You can build belief and then somebody nine years later can take the action. You know what I mean?

[00:01:44] Speaker 6: There you go.

[00:01:46] Speaker 1: Good job.

[00:01:47] Speaker 7: Down to the next one.

[00:01:48] Speaker 6: But you got to go fast, fast, fast because the ground is. Hurry, hurry, go to the swings. The ground's lava, the ground's lava. Hurry, hurry, hurry.

[00:01:57] Speaker 3: Next year is my 10 year business anniversary.

[00:02:00] Speaker 6: Of course, there's been moments where I've questioned what am I doing and if I should go back to work for corporate.

[00:02:08] Speaker 3: But there's never been a moment of wavering between I need to be able to have a business that can make my family and I money to live and also be able to do good at the same time.

[00:02:19] Speaker 1: Hold on, I've got to go faster.

[00:02:21] Speaker 6: Okay, go faster.

[00:02:24] Speaker 3: When I first graduated college, I got the opportunity to go work in New York City. We worked with Mass and Square Garden and the PGA Tour and NASCAR and Fox Sports and American Idol. And then in 2017, I just wanted to work back with nonprofits again. There was an impact calling that I wanted to take everything that I had learned and really bring it back into the nonprofit space. I had an amazing boss. I told her, I was like, I'm going to leave and I'm going to start my own thing. She's like, what clients do you have? I said, none. And that was it.

[00:03:00] Speaker 6: Hi, Elle. So good to see you.

[00:03:03] Speaker 3: I just was asking nonprofits, why don't you have a monthly giving program? A, it feels amazing as the monthly donor. It's accessible. It's creating predictable, sustainable revenue for you. And they just said, we don't know how to do that. So in 2017, I started Positive Equation.

[00:03:22] Speaker 7: Success magazine teacher. So I am in the process.

[00:03:26] Speaker 3: So this was a, this is in this issue with Robert.

[00:03:30] Speaker 1: Hi, Robert.

[00:03:32] Speaker 3: Four page spread. This was crazy. The title was Subscribe and Save the World.

[00:03:38] Speaker 6: How today is going to be worked structured wise agenda is we're going to celebrate some wins.

[00:03:43] Speaker 3: So we're gonna do that real quick.

[00:03:45] Speaker 4: Dana's business stood out to me very quickly. Her platform's really transforming the nonprofit industry.

[00:03:54] Speaker 3: If I'm able to help nonprofits feel more confident in growing a monthly giving program, that's creating the same feeling I felt as a monthly donor. I don't have to give $50,000 to feel like a philanthropist of changing the world.

[00:04:12] Speaker 2: If you ask a lot of our family friends, they're all like, oh, of course, Dana got in Success magazine. But what they're not also realizing is the amount of hours that she has put into everything behind the scenes that no one ever sees.

[00:04:26] Speaker 3: Life is a little crazy right now. But it's honestly the coolest crazy. My husband and I both work from home and we both do webinars. I host the monthly giving summit every February. We are here together at this moment because we know the world of fundraising is shifting. This past February, we had about 5,000 people join from 60 countries all over the world to learn about monthly giving education. And I have my podcast that's four years in. Welcome back to Missions to Movements. This is a special episode. Yes. Writing a book. That was big. I believe in my core, because I am a monthly donor, that we have the ability to change the world collectively through a movement of individuals.

[00:05:16] Speaker 2: It's really cool to see her go in, command a stage, hundreds of people in the room look to her. And then everybody wants to talk to her afterwards. Her heart is so big for the nonprofit world.

[00:05:27] Speaker 3: So think about, do you know your donor's journey?

[00:05:30] Speaker 2: So it's easy that she gets to wake up every day and really lean into putting that work in because it's what she actually cares about. She wants to help change the world and help these people do that.

[00:05:39] Speaker 3: What I think I wanted to review with you on the outline is like the beginning story. I was on Zoom before Zoom was the noun Zoom. I was always using it when I started, but it was way pre-2020. I think literally when I started my business, probably in 2017, that was just how I conducted calls because I was already working from home as a solopreneur. It's been my video meeting solution since day one.

[00:06:07] Speaker 6: Yes, this fits here. Here's how we transition.

[00:06:10] Speaker 3: So a big part about how my business has evolved is just understanding the tremendous capacity and growth and features and functionality that it has. And so really excited to learn more about how to tap into it in different areas of my business.

[00:06:24] Speaker 4: We are excited about the start of this movement and to see kind of where it goes this year and over the next few years as solopreneurs kind of evolve. But I want to let you know that you not only have made the list of top 50, but you are among the top five. Stop. Yes.

[00:06:48] Speaker 3: So what that means, Dana, is you are receiving $30,000. This is not what I thought this call was about. That was the goal.

[00:06:56] Speaker 6: You guys are tricksters.

[00:07:00] Speaker 3: Being part of the Zoom Solopreneur 50 was completely unexpected. I have never received any outside funding for a positive equation.

[00:07:11] Speaker 6: Oh, my gosh. OK, one, thank you.

[00:07:13] Speaker 3: I can't like I have to like process that for a second. I was like ready to answer questions. OK, wow. Thank you, guys. That's amazing.

[00:07:20] Speaker 4: Thank you. Take a minute. Take it in. Congratulations. Very nice. Thank you. Thank you for all of the great work that you have been doing. I want to like hug you across the screen.

[00:07:31] Speaker 3: Yes, of course. Oh, my gosh.

[00:07:33] Speaker 6: I love that. I'm a mom to a three-year-old toddler, so I'm like we're big huggers in this family.

[00:07:38] Speaker 3: Being a solopreneur, I can definitely say confidently I've helped raise millions of dollars for nonprofits through monthly giving. The other more important number that I think about is the individual people. Thousands of monthly donors get to feel what I feel.

[00:07:55] Speaker 8: Dana is a superstar. She's taken purpose and put it at the center of her revenue trajectory as well, and so you can make money with social good, and she proves that.

[00:08:08] Speaker 3: I'm coming.

[00:08:13] Speaker 8: And she also demonstrates that ultimately work-life balance is a great feeling.

[00:08:25] Speaker 6: Oh, this one? Okay, ready? You go on one side. Okay, hold on a second.

[00:08:28] Speaker 3: You can absolutely have a successful business and have it be in the purpose of good.

[00:08:42] Speaker 7: Forty dollars? Here you go. Thank you. Bye. Bye.

[00:08:49] Speaker 3: As a mom, I mean, I want to see a world that's in a better place for my daughter when she gets older. I hope that she just sees if you put your mind to something, you can literally do anything.