Impact Through Relationships with Jeff Schreifels

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Aicila: Hello, welcome back to Business. As Unusual Today, we're diving into a sector crucial for positive impact with a leader who is truly transforming how it operates. Join me to Joining me today is Jeff Rifs, principal and owner of Veritas Group, a global leader in major gifts and mid-level fundraising strategy.

With over 30 years of experience, Jeff has a remarkable track record helping nonprofits like St. Jude's and United Way raise millions through donor-focused relationships. A renowned speaker and author, jeff is passionate about transforming nonprofit fundraising with actionable insights and inspiring success stories.

His approach challenges conventional norms by emphasizing genuine connections and sustainable impact. Aligning perfectly with our mission here at Businesses Unusual to explore strategies that elevate and organizations' impact beyond the usual. Welcome Jeff.

Jeff: Thank you. Thank you for having

Aicila: I am excited.

Jeff: It's great to

be here.

Aicila: My, my, [00:01:00] first career was very small grassroots nonprofits.

So my, my experience with fundraising is, uh, probably quite different and, and yet I think the principles are fairly translatable. So

Jeff: absolutely.

Aicila: a lot of respect though. What's the challenge that you see? And I'll just restart it.

Jeff: yeah. A challenge that we often see is that nonprofit leaders are not funding

Aicila: Hmm.

Jeff: different strategies and appropriately, and yet they want these outcomes, they don't want to invest in them. So that's a

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: see a lot.

Aicila: So when leaders are investing in their fundraising, they often wanna cherry pick where they put their funds and not necessarily really embrace the whole process.

Jeff: That's, that's true. So we call it like investing in the full [00:02:00] donor

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: in a sense. So times we see organizations. Who invest heavily in small dollar donors. So they'll direct mail, email, you know, to get a 10 $15 gift, $25 gift, and they see great success at it. And so they invest a lot into small dollar donors, which is fine if they also are cultivating them and moving them

Aicila: Right,

Jeff: And challenging donors to give larger gifts and inspiring them to give larger

Aicila: right.

Jeff: Or we could see some organizations that only have a major gift program and they're not investing in bringing new donors in. And so then they're wondering where are we gonna get more major donors? And if you look at how they've been investing in all their different strategies, you realize they haven't really been investing in new donors.

[00:03:00] So it's. That's a huge challenge is trying to convince from our end. Most of the nonprofits have been doing a great job of bringing in small dollar donors, really haven't inspired their donors to give to their full heart's content, as I

Aicila: Right. No, that makes sense. Well, and I, I found that when I, when I was a, a baby fundraiser. I, I learned a, a really, a powerful lesson where we had had a donor who used to give significantly and they

Jeff: Yeah,

like, Hey, I was just wondering if we did something you didn't like. And they said, no, you, you just seem like you're doing great without me. And I immediately replied, well, yeah, we're doing great and, and we still need you.

Jeff: So that, so that's a great story because this is the, the number one reason donors stop giving or give less is that they didn't know how their gifts made a

Aicila: Yep.[00:04:00]

Jeff: And nonprofits fail at this. They are great at getting the

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: and they really can put it in the bank really quickly, they fail at thinking properly.

And then also reporting back on the impact. And when you don't do that well or complete the giving cycle, donors

Aicila: Yep.

Jeff: Kind of like your example.

Aicila: and I was lucky 'cause I had the relationship and, and I think that's something you talked about, that, that I think, and especially now, we have so many opportunities for automation and tech and AI agents that I, I think that relationships are going to become even more impactful in every aspect of business.

Jeff: I totally agree. Um, and this is also why even though in the age of AI and you know, we're not anti ai, there's. There's ways to use it properly, but at the [00:05:00] end of the day, if you really want a large gift from a donor, you first have to have a relationship built on trust that takes human to human contact to solicit a donor for a big gift. That is gut. That's gonna come from a human being to another

human

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: It's not going to happen through an, you know, an ai uh, robot.

Aicila: no, it's, it's a different, there was a book I read, I wanna say like 13 years ago, called Sway and it, there's, um, I forget the subtitle, I'll drop it in the show notes. But what was really interesting to me that a lot of different, uh, case studies and psychology studies, but that. What you're talking about.

If you give someone $5,000 and they don't talk to you at all for a year and then they give you $10,000 back, they're less likely to give you five again [00:06:00] than if you, if they, they give you five and you keep them updated all year and you give them three back, like the financial piece, as much as we like to believe we're rational because then we are not, the financial piece is less impactful.

Then the engagement around what's happening and how, even if it's not even what's happening with your money, like you were talking about the impact or, and so that was a huge lesson for me.

Jeff: Yeah, yeah. Very good point.

Aicila: So what about you? Uh, you've gotta have a lot of great stories. Is there a time that you worked with a leader and were able to really sort of broaden their vision around how to invest? Like what was the moment that they got it that you can

Jeff: Yeah, I feel like this happens quite a bit. So typically when we go into an organ, this just happened to me this week. Um. We, there's an organization that's interested in [00:07:00] us. It usually comes from the development director, so the person ahead of fundraising. But in order for them to hire us, we also have to convince their executive director. So this, this week I was sitting in a conference room full of all the leaders of that nonprofit and the development director and. You know, my job is to show them the data that makes a compelling case for why they should invest in mid and major

Aicila: Hmm.

Jeff: previous to this very small amount, mid and major gifts, huge amounts to direct response. Small dollar donors, and they've had a lot of success in that, but it's becoming more expensive and realizing the returns are not as great they, they have all these donors. Thousands of donors who they're not really working with. And you [00:08:00] know, it really is a case of showing them if you actually invested in major gifts over the long term, and we show 'em a five year projection, here's where you are today. If you had a disciplined mid major gift program, you invested properly in people in the right systems and structure. You could yield another $60 million in revenue. Now that's compelling,

Aicila: it's pretty compelling.

Jeff: And your ROI is going to be

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: one. Okay. So for relatively small investment compared to the output that is compelling, and were able to convince them, of course. Um, that that's the way they should go. But even sometimes when they show that compelling evidence, they're reluctant.

And a lot of times I think leaders want to rock the [00:09:00] boat or take a chance or step out because they're afraid something bad's gonna happen. They may lose their jobs if they take a

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: You know, there's all, they're, they're fearful. or they've just been doing it this way for so long they can't see outside to do something

Aicila: Yeah. And it's, it's a longer lead time too, isn't it? So it's something that they have to invest in and then ex, they have to be pa. They have to be patient, right?

Jeff: Exactly. And I said, you know, there are all these leaders around. I said, look, at the end of the day. This is not going to work unless you commit to the long term. This is gonna take two to three years where you're really going to see the results, the fruits of the

Aicila: Right.

Jeff: right? you have to be committed that this is going to happen for the next three years at least. then from there on you'll you, you'll really see the benefits of it, but [00:10:00] you have gotta be committed to

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: And most leaders, this is how I talk to them, most leaders think it's gotta happen

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: Major gifts is not going to happen today. Why? Because it's all about building relationships with

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: gaining their trust, knowing who they are. That takes time.

Aicila: Yeah, no, it's definitely, it's an investment and I think that in, in the larger business world, you see that as well. There's a real like, um, obsession with short-term profitability and cash flow is important a hundred percent. However, most of the things that are, I think, longer term generative require that slow.

Thoughtful build that you're talking about, and so you have to have the patience and the strategy and the foundation, right, to make that happen.

Jeff: look at Wall Street quarterly reporting. You know, it's just crazy how short term everyone's[00:11:00]

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: But if you look at those companies that are actually been around for a while and who have grown and who do good things, they think

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: You know, they're not just about getting that earnings

Aicila: Yep.

Jeff: And it's the same way in my business with. Helping executive directors to see that major gifts is a long-term

Aicila: Yeah. Um,

Jeff: It's not something that's gonna happen overnight.

Aicila: yeah, that makes a lot of sense. What does success look like for you?

Jeff: Oh, a number of things actually. I mean, first of all, success is doing what you love. have been fortunate throughout my entire career to do something that I love. Um, you know, I kind of fell into fundraising. I just turned 60 and for people who are 60 and fundraisers, we didn't [00:12:00] go to school to become fundraisers. We were doing something else, but I have a history degree

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: but I never did that because I went right into a nonprofit and fell in love with fundraising, I learned how to do it. From that moment of working, I worked with two small, um, nonprofits in the Philadelphia area I just loved it.

I did that for eight years and then I went to an agency and worked on big organizations all around the country, and I, I just loved it so

Aicila: Hmm.

Jeff: and now I've owned my own business for the last 15, 16

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: and. Every day is a i I I can't wait to do this. So what you love, that's, to me is success.

Um, and then of course I want to create a work environment for the 40 people that work with us all around the

Aicila: Hmm.[00:13:00]

Jeff: where they can thrive and they're happy at what they do and they find joy in their work. success to me. Um, and then, you know, I, I would say part of our vision and mission is to change the, the nonprofit sector's idea around

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: That it's not just transactional gifts, it's about creating transformation. those gifts that can transform, uh, and alleviate needs. Also the donor and help them find joy in their giving. And I believe the way that we go about it at verus, uh, is the right way to do this. And we wanna spread that to as many people as possible. So we've, not only do we do consulting, but we've created an online training platform so that any fundraiser [00:14:00] anywhere in the world can take our training.

Aicila: Hmm.

Jeff: On how to do this work,

Aicila: Nice.

Jeff: And so over the last, let's see, from 2016, on almost 10 years now, we've had an online platform and we've trained over 7,000 fundraisers around the world. And so, you know, I was in, uh, Italy in June at a fundraising conference. it was amazing to have all these people come up to me and say, I took your course and it chased how I thought about fundraising. And I was like, this is so cool. This is exactly what we wanted to

Aicila: That's awesome.

Jeff: So it's amazing that you can make an impact. You know, you're kind of creating these things here, its impact is all over the world. So. That's pretty cool too. And then obviously we want have great, happy customers and know, the fundraisers that we're training and that we work with every day know that [00:15:00] their work is being transformed, that all of those things is what I would deem success.

Aicila: Yeah, I just, I mean, that feels like a pretty good list. So,

Jeff: Yeah.

Aicila: what advice would you give your 18-year-old self? I,

Jeff: Um, don't sweat the small stuff. I know that sounds so cliche, but it's very true. If I look back and things that I would worry about and if I look back now, I'm like, why did you worry so much about that?

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: Um, things actually work. Turn out. Okay. You can give it some time, but if you're, if you're intentional about what you're trying to do, and you have the right mindset of where you're going and you're kind to people and you try to do the right thing, [00:16:00] usually it comes

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: And that was kind of the ethos of how we started verus, is that everything we learned, we wanted to give away free.

Aicila: Hmm.

Jeff: So we created white papers, we created a blog, we do podcasts, we do all kinds of content creation, and we give it away. And with the knowledge that when you give it away, it comes back to you because some people will take that information and they'll work with, you know, do it themselves. But what we have found is the more we've given the, the more we've grown as a company. Um, and so, yeah,

Aicila: And I think that's a, I think that I've seen that universally there's a, um. There's a way that you create almost an ecosystem of generosity, and especially with what you're working in philanthropy [00:17:00] that seems very mentally and emotionally aligned to amplify itself.

Jeff: Yeah. You know, but a lot of people were, were like, why are you giving everything away? If you did that, then no one's gonna hire you to do anything. And I said, no. And I think it's a law of the universe that when you, it's just like when people give away their money.

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: We know there's all these studies about how when people are generous, that the more they give, they're happier, healthier, and

Aicila: Mm-hmm. Right.

Jeff: like, give it away and good things

Aicila: Mm-hmm. Well, and the other part of it is that you, you know, you see these things. For, you know, the, the three tips to being a millionaire tomorrow or something ridiculous like that. And, and, and some of those are obviously very clickbait, but even the ones that might have some accuracy behind them, the others, the other part of it is there's this [00:18:00] work, this list of work that you have to do and expertise you have to acquire.

And I'm sure it's the same with the stuff that you're offering when you put it out there. Honestly, I found that when I put out, here's how I do the thing that I do. People try it and at least, you know, probably 30% of 'em like, oh, I didn't realize that there was this many steps and I was gonna have to learn these things.

Like, actually, could you just, can I just pay you to do it? 'cause I, you know, I could see it. And so there's a way in which it, it helps to. Orient people to the things that you make look really easy because for you, they're, you love them, or they're second nature. You've been doing it for so long, you have a really great system, and you have the expertise to make those decisions in the moment around seven things that they'd have to go sit and read all of the pieces or whatever.

So.

Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.

Aicila: So I could see there's a lot of value. Honestly. You could provide value, which feels good, but then also people would get that sense of, oh, we actually, we really wanna hire these guys. This is too many, too many steps.

Jeff: I [00:19:00] know.

Aicila: So what's a, um, do you have like a favorite success story or you're, you know, a fail that you learned from, you were like, oh, we're not doing it that way again.

Jeff: Oh, favorite fail or success story? Um. You know, when my favorite, uh, failure and it's what kind of then prompted the whole vision for verus was when I was a gift officer myself, a development director, and we had a board member. That, you know, gave $20,000 every year. And when I came onto the organization, I looked at, that person hasn't given in three years. So I was like, I'm gonna get a meeting with this guy and I'm gonna ask him for 20 grand. That was my, that was the way I went into this

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: I've never met this

Aicila: [00:20:00] Right.

Jeff: I went into this thing. I go in, I, he gives me his whole life story. I'm like, okay. Okay. then there was a pause in the conversation. I was like, Hey, uh, Dan, I have, I've noticed that you haven't given in three years you know you were giving 20,000.

Would you be able to give a gift to $20,000? And he is like, you know, he is kind of like

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: and he's like, oh yeah, I think I can do that. And I'm like, great. I'll, uh, write it up and then I'll, I'll, you know, I'll send something to you tomorrow. And he's like, okay. And I leave the office. I'm like, my first donor already got a $20,000 gift.

I think I'm one week into

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: job, right? I go back to the office and my boss is in there and he's like, uh. He looks worried and I'm [00:21:00] like, what's going on? And he goes, Hey, can you come into my office? So I go into his office, he said, Hey, uh, I just got a call from Dan on our, from our

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: of directors. And, uh, he said, you were just meeting with him.

And he basically said, you, you Ram rotted him into a $20,000 gift.

Aicila: Hmm.

Jeff: And he said he was so taken aback. He resigned from the

Aicila: Oh my gosh.

Jeff: He was so upset with how I did this, and I was like, oh my gosh. Now I'm lucky because my boss was very, uh, forgiving. He could have fired me that day. But what I learned was fundraising is not about the money.

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: Fundraising is about building relationships, real relationships with [00:22:00] people. And if you do that well, the money follows. And that's was a big lesson for me as a, as a young fundraiser at that

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: that never chase money, always build relationships. And fortunately I was able to win back that relationship over time.

He did come back onto the board and it was good. But that was a huge mistake that I made early on in my career and it really formed our ethos at verus that this is all about building relationships. You know, the, our first book was, it's not just about the

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: you know, it's about building those relationships.

Aicila: Yeah. No, that's really powerful. Thank you for sharing that.

Jeff: Yeah.

Aicila: So do you have any trainings or things that are coming up that people could, yeah.

Jeff: We have, [00:23:00] we have our certification courses for mid and major gift fundraising coming up in October. If you go to our website@verusgroup.com, V-E-R-I-T, us

Aicila: Mm-hmm.

Jeff: You'll see all the available courses. if there's someone at a nonprofit that's interested in our consulting, we, you know, we always do a free data analysis, which is really

Aicila: That's awesome.

Jeff: Um, there, I mean, it's, it's a really interesting analysis that most nonprofits don't look at their data this way, That's really cool and that, that actually they'll get some great information, but for us in a business, it allows us to get in front

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: and show them where there's an area of opportunity and then what's possible, you know, it's compelling. Um, so yeah, those are some ways

Aicila: That sounds great.

Jeff: engage with us. And if you go to our [00:24:00] website, we have a ton of free resources. We've got over 25 white papers. know, 1500 blog posts. Anything you wanna know about major gifts or mid-level, we have something on it.

Aicila: That's fantastic. That's lovely that you have that for folks 'cause it is definitely a, and and it's also evolving and, but it sounds like you have a good, a good balance of the traditional as well as, you know, the, the current.

Jeff: Yeah, exactly.

Aicila: Is there anything that you wanna share that we didn't, uh, touch on or that you're feeling super inspired to, to offer up?

Jeff: I think I would just reiterate for people who want to grow their own businesses and you know, might be entrepreneurs and that, don't be afraid to give away your knowledge as you, you were talking. You know, people, the more you give away. The more that will come back. It feels counterintuitive. It feels like you're giving it [00:25:00] away, and why would anyone wanna hire you?

But you have to trust that what you know is unique and need to know about it. And if they really want to implement it, they'll ask you to help them.

Aicila: Yeah.

Jeff: So.

Aicila: even if they, the, honestly, there's also the word of mouth. Like even if they just follow your checklist and they do well, they'll be like, this helped me do this, and that, that has its own and it's joy for you because of the things that you're saying you want for your success. So

Jeff: That's

Aicila: love things that are win, win, win, win.

Everybody's doing well, so,

Jeff: absolutely.

Aicila: so folks that are listening that wanna learn more, follow you, get in touch, what do you recommend?

Jeff: Just go to our website@verusgroup.com and you'll see all of our offerings that we do and resources how to get ahold of us. Yeah.

Aicila: Awesome. Well, thank, thanks so much for joining me today, Jeff.

Jeff: Thanks for

Aicila: It is a real [00:26:00] pleasure.

Tune in next week for my chat with Faith Clark and discover how designing for true belonging, not just strategy, can transform your team's culture and success. On the next episode of business as unusual.

Thank you for tuning into business as unusual, remember, in this ever evolving world of modern business, it's not about fitting in.

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