201. From Sales to Fundraising: Lessons Learned After Knocking on Nearly 100,000 Doors - Jake Savage
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Overview
Meet Jake. Every wondered what possesses someone to run 50 miles? For Jake - it's about passion. After learning about the plight of women and children who are trafficked around the world, he redirected his career in persuasive sales firmly toward helping the nonprofit sector. Join this convo with someone who's knocked on nearly 100,000 doors and is leveraging those corporate sales methods for good.
Today’s Guest
Jake Savage, Fundraising Consultant, Speaker, and Sales Expert
“It was this great illustration of the fact that people donate for their reasons, not yours, and to always still go for it.”
Episode Transcript
Download Full Episode Transcript Here
Episode highlights
Jake’s story and journey to where he is today (2:20)
Knocking on nearly 100,000 doors in his sales background (6:13)
A powerful story that connected Jake to the philanthropy world (8:00)
The story of running 50 miles to spread awareness and raise funds to fight human trafficking (12:00)
The intersection of sales and fundraising to help you raise more money (16:45)
Barriers to fundraising that Jake has seen (22:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Jake’s life (26:00)
Jake’s One Good Thing: You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the levels of your systems. (29:00)
Powerful quotes
“I think one thing that all of us do is we will project how we feel or how other people feel on to the next person.” -Jake
“I don't know how many of us would keep kicking the soccer ball back, day after day, rejected after rejection, that you had enough doors, shutting your face that you kept going.” -Becky
“Even when we're so tired, or even when were burnout, or we're having this compassion fatigue, or we're feeling paralyzed, to your point to your friends, nonprofit, like where they're just going to go dark. It's like we all sit in that paralysis, but we're all going to kick the ball back. Because we love this mission. We love this work. And because we understand when someone kicks it back, it makes it all worth it.” -Becky
“I'm really just trying to be as much of a sponge as possible. Because yes, I've spent a lot of time in the sales world, but I've just been trying to learn as much as possible.” -Jake
“At the end of the day, my goal is to leverage corporate sales methods to help nonprofit fundraising teams win bigger donations.” -Jake
“One thing that I've noticed is so far in this year, is that I'm helping nonprofits to view the fundraising process, like a two way street.” -Jake
“The bulk of these reports that I see people are not asking any questions at all.” -Jake
“You're going to be able to identify what that person's goals and needs are for themselves, and then tell a fresh new story for that person on how partnering together will help them achieve their goals, rather than them helping you reach your goals as a fundraiser.” -Jake
“It was this great illustration of the fact that people donate for their reasons, not yours, and to always still go for it.” -Jake
Connect with Jake
Website / Instagram / YouTube / Podcast
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