Total charitable giving just hit a record $617 billion, according to newly released Giving USA data. But inside that headline sits the number that should worry every development director: fewer everyday households are giving than ever. Dollars are up because major donors are giving more, while overall participation keeps shrinking.
Evangelism Explosion International lived that problem in miniature. Two back-to-back capital campaigns pushed revenue from around $2 million a year to $4 to $6 million, but gutted the mid and low-tier donor file along the way. By the time the board raised the alarm, EE sat at roughly 92 percent major donors to 8 percent everyone else, with real concern about major donor fatigue and no pipeline behind them.
On this week's 501(c) Drop, Jeff Givens, VP of Advancement at EE, told BetterUnite Co-founder Leya Simmons how a peer-to-peer campaign called Sponsor a Nation finally cracked it: 285+ unique donors, nearly 500 gifts, roughly two thirds brand new to the ministry. More useful than the numbers is how they got there. Here is the playbook, step by step.
Jeff's core advice for any organization with a 90-10 problem: ask what you already do that could be broken into pieces that align with a passion or affinity somebody already has.
For EE, it was the triennial Congress of Nations, where nearly 100 countries each send two delegates. Instead of one big fund, every nation got its own fundraising page and goal. People already loved Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, or the country where they honeymooned or served on a mission trip. The campaign did not manufacture enthusiasm; it gave existing affinity a specific place to land. Look at your own programs the same way. A general fund inspires no one, but a segment of your mission attached to a place, a person, or a project can.
A $25 gift feels meaningless against a multimillion dollar budget, and donors know it. But when a page shows that a nation needs a defined amount to get its delegates to the Congress, $25 visibly moves the bar.
EE put a face and a short bio on most nation pages, so donors knew exactly who they were helping. That is the mechanic to copy: shrink the goal until a small gift changes the picture, then show the donor the picture. Timing helps too. A new tax law now lets standard filers deduct up to $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for couples without itemizing, which gives every organization a practical reason to re-engage everyday donors right now.
EE linked a public spreadsheet from the campaign site explaining, down to the penny, how every dollar was spent and where each nation stood. Jeff built it alongside Pavo, a board member and major donor who had always been reluctant to make asks.
That transparency did double duty. It gave small donors confidence, and it turned Pavo into the campaign's most active ambassador. He now blasts the page to family and friends every time it updates, and new donors arrive within hours. Radical clarity converts insiders into evangelists.
The Houston story proves the point. Board chairman David Self's Sunday school class at Houston's First Baptist Church adopted Azerbaijan and raised roughly $5,700 from 16 donors, the vast majority first-time givers to EE. Jeff had spoken to that class many times. So had EE's president. Nothing. The difference, in Jeff's words: they like me, but they love David.
Do not ask your champions to become fundraisers. Hand them tools. EE pre-wrote text messages, emails, and call scripts, and mapped out who to contact in a given week. The nations that used those tools grew their donor bases; the ones that did not, largely did not. Your ambassadors bring the trust. You bring everything else.
EE's fading Fort Lauderdale banquet became the campaign's launchpad. The theme was Light the Nations, and the goal for the night was one donation for every nation. Gifts ran through the campaign site in real time and lit up an LED wall as each nation received support. Choirs from local Christian schools that teach EE brought new families in the door, and the keynote speaker spontaneously announced his own large gift to Russia, his family's homeland.
It became the largest, highest-participation banquet in EE's recent history, and every nation was supported by night's end. A live, visible, gamified moment gives small donors the thing they almost never get: the experience of watching their gift matter in the room.
A campaign ends; a pipeline should not. EE is turning Puerto Rico's 51 donors, rallied almost single-handedly by staff member Will Rodriguez, into an ongoing giving page for ministry in their own nation. A former Rice University fundraiser on staff is launching a Houston 100 giving circle, 100 donors at $100 a month. National directors in Uganda and the Czech Republic are asking for pages of their own, and EE plans to train national directors to run their own campaigns before the Congress in Bali this November.
Plan the second act before the first one ends. Every cluster of new donors is a future chapter, giving circle, or recurring program waiting to be organized.
Sponsor a Nation sits at 63 percent of its $407,000 goal with a month to run. And one old myth can be retired: major donors did not pull back when small gifts took the spotlight. Several have already volunteered to close whatever gap remains at the finish.
The mid and low-level donors are not gone. They are waiting for an ask that is specific, transparent, and delivered by someone they already trust. Watch the full episode for the whole story, then run the playbook on your own mission.
Transcript Recording:
Leya Simmons (00:00)
Hi everyone, welcome back to the 501 C Drop. I'm Leya Simmons. I'm the co-founder and CEO of Better Unite. And today is conversation. I honestly was talking to our guest today earlier this spring, so it's been a couple of months, and we stumbled upon this conversation that I immediately thought, wait a minute, wait a minute, stop what you're saying. Other people need to hear this. So I invited Jeff Givens of Inter eva
excuse me, evangelism explosion, to join me on the 501c drop where he is today. Welcome, Jeff.
Jeff Givens (00:37)
Glad to be here. Thank you, Leo.
Leya Simmons (00:38)
Thank you so much. but before we get to our our chat and our talk, I do want to spend a couple of minutes because we do have some fundraising news, which is not always true. But ⁓ we, you know, I want to begin to, if you've listened before, this will be a new little segment we're going to do at the very beginning of our whether you're watching us on as a webinar or you're listening to us as a podcast, ⁓ I'm going to start sharing with you some of the sector news. So
we have a quite active sector and a lot of people looking at it and providing us data. So I thought let's start by sharing some of that. So a quick snapshot of where fundraising stands this year and what this honestly could really mean for your strategy. First, total charitable giving hit a record $617 billion. We have newly released data from the Giving USA. We also saw
⁓ Q4 of 2025's data from the fundraising effectiveness project come out. So $617 billion, that's really good news, right? But there is a little bit of bad news kind of wrapped and couched in this good news that actually Jeff is going to talk to us about how we can mitigate. ⁓ fewer everyday households are donating. Total dollars are up because we're seeing wealthy major gift donors donating more.
But our overall donor participation is shrinking. Next, we have a major new tax incentive to talk about. A new tax law lets standard filers deduct up to $1,000 for individuals and up to $2,000 for married couples without needing to itemize. That gives us a huge and very practical reason to re-engage those everyday donors, those mid and low level donors. ⁓
With our efforts to pull them into our circles, and we should do that right now, leveraging this new tax law. Third, clunky technology is costing our sector some serious money. Research is showing us that $155 billion is being left on the table every single year simply because donation pages are being found frustrating or hard to use on a mobile phone. Donors really want and frankly require smooth.
Two click giving and quick updates on their impact. And finally, cash is no longer king. Bequests and get and legacy giving jumped nearly 17%, and more people are donating appreciated stock and through donor-advised funds. If we're only asking for credit cards or cash, we're really missing out where a lot of the actual wealth lives. So, bottom line for us: in this next year, the money's out there.
But winning it requires a smoother digital touch, clearer tax messaging, and asking for modern assets, not just, you know, pocket change, whatever you happen to have in your pockets. All of this, interestingly, brings me to today's guest, Jeff. He is a live case study of exactly this kind of problem. How do you win back?
the everyday donor, the $25, the $50, the $75, the maybe the $100 giver, when every trend line in our sector is telling us that they are walking away. And Jeff has interestingly found something that's actually working. So I'm going to introduce you Jeff but then I'm going to give you the opportunity to go ahead and introduce yourself.
Jeff Givens (04:07)
Sounds good.
Leya Simmons (04:07)
Jeff Givens
is the VP of Advancement for Evangelism Explosion International, a global ministry that has been equipping churches to share the gospel for 66 years, now active in nearly 100 countries. Jeff's background is actually in television and documentary production, and you're gonna hear that come through when he's telling his stories. Jeff, welcome again.
Jeff Givens (04:30)
Well, Leia, thank you so much for having me. It's a it's a real pleasure.
Leya Simmons (04:33)
Thank you for being here. I really appreciate you. All right, tell me, give me like the one-minute explanation of evangelism explosion, what you do, who you serve, and then also that kind of the the international scope of your work.
Jeff Givens (04:47)
man, this was always the hard, hard elevator pitch, you know, ⁓ answer here. Well, if I had to boil it down, ⁓ evangelism explosion is a ministry that equips and trains ⁓ the local church. We are a servant to the the local church. Our our founder, Jim Kennedy, he was a pastor, ⁓ actually a failed pastor back in the nineteen fifties. ⁓ he ⁓ grew his church from about a hundred down to twenty.
Leya Simmons (04:49)
Yeah.
I'm sure.
Jeff Givens (05:15)
And it's a long story, but to to cut it short, ⁓ he found a way to equip and train everyday church-going believers how to effectively share the gospel. And his church that he had grown the wrong direction turned around and grew the right direction. And and for a number of years, Coleridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida was the fastest growing church in America. And he had pastors from all over the world coming to figure out what was the what was the magic, what was the secret.
Leya Simmons (05:44)
Secret sauce.
Jeff Givens (05:45)
The secret
sauce, that's right. And so he spun that off to become an o his own ministry. And the name Evangelism Explosion comes from, well, for the back to the baby boom, ⁓ there's a population explosion. Well, why don't we have an evangelism explosion to to keep pace? And so hence the name. ⁓ and like you mentioned about sixty or so years later, here we are still equipping churches ⁓ with a methodology that teaches a pastor how to
talk to their congregants about the gospel. Oftentimes the pastors know how to share the gospel. They're they're really good at it, but we want to show them a transferable method on how they can train the everyday person to share the gospel because oftentimes they'll know people and they'll be in contact with people that that we just don't have they don't have contact with. And so that's what we do ⁓ in about a hundred nations or around the world and have been doing the same thing for yeah about going on 60 years ⁓ working in and through local churches.
Leya Simmons (06:19)
Yeah.
Huh.
So then tell me w w a bit about what you do every day. What does a VP of advancement look like at Evangelism Explosion? I'm sure you wear only one hat and do just one job.
Jeff Givens (06:47)
⁓ man. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I
I that's a it's a great question. ⁓ my when I came up, ⁓ like like you mentioned, my my background's in communications production, and that's what I did for a number of years with with EE w was that. And it was pretty easy to ⁓ say what I did. I I I worked in the communications department, I I made videos, I told stories, I I wrote, wrote articles.
Leya Simmons (07:05)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Givens (07:17)
Now when people ask me what I do and I tell them I'm in development, the the natural question is well well what is that? And yeah, and I have the same problem ⁓ with you to to answer that. And and what I really boils down to is is three things. It's ⁓ visiting our major donors, it's myself and our president that that bear the the bull the the the largest load for that. It's coming up with a strategy for for the year for our unrestricted fundraising.
Leya Simmons (07:23)
What does that mean?
Jeff Givens (07:44)
And then thirdly, it's directing our communications. we've got a great communications team and I've got a great team and ⁓ Natalie and Sheila and Emily if they're if they're out there. ⁓ they really help pull this all together. But we're a we're a small team ⁓ and we try to get all those things done. But really my role boils down to to those three big buckets is visiting donors, ⁓ we're working on our strategy for the year and then directing our communications.
Leya Simmons (08:10)
Amazing. Well, so before I kind of jump into the campaign that like as you remember when you were telling me about it, I was like, hold on a second, I really want I want to know more. ⁓ I I wanted I want you to, if you could, if you don't mind, tell me about your donor base historically, right? Before you've kind of started this new initiative. What did it look like? what did they do? You said you mentioned ⁓ or you mentioned before when we were talking that you were around ninety-two ⁓ to eight.
major donors versus everybody else. How how do you or maybe how do you think that ratio came to be? And why what what was like the inspiration that either you or your board or whomever said, okay, we need to like look at this ratio and try and change it?
Jeff Givens (08:57)
No, it's true. If if you rewound, well it's true to start with, we we we had and we are, you know, trying to change about that ninety-two to eight, ninety-ten ⁓ range on our on our donor base. If ⁓ it's a it's a problem of our own creation. And if you rewound eight years in the ministry ⁓ to right around two thousand and seventeen and and before that time.
Leya Simmons (09:06)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Givens (09:23)
we were about a one and a half to two and a half on average a million dollar year organization. Now a lot of that was in restricted funds and we did have a much larger donor donor base. Now, now like you mentioned at the top with those statistics about the the falling ⁓ a mid tier, I think we would have been beneficiaries of it back then when it was larger, larger too. But but we we had a much broader appeal, but we didn't have as many high end donors.
Leya Simmons (09:38)
Great.
Jeff Givens (09:50)
And and in 2018, we made a decision to shift to ⁓ capital campaign funding. And so from 2018 to 2022, we ran a four-year campaign. And from 2022, and we're just ending one now in 2026, our second four-year capital campaign. And this was like ministry-wide, all-encompassing, and and we averaged about four to six million dollars a year. so huge jump in in profits, but but
Leya Simmons (10:16)
Yeah.
Jeff Givens (10:17)
major gutting of our mid and lowest tier donors. We we really only had time to devote to our major donors and our board came to us and said, Look, this is great, this is awesome, but we're concerned about the longevity of the ministry. We need more donors in the pipeline and we're concerned about our major donors having donor fatigue. And so I wish I could say that, you know, they they approached me with that like last quarter and this was the answer. No, this has been something that we've been trying to fix for about a a year now.
And so this is really the first time that we've seen some success in that sphere. But that's kind of the history of how we got to where we are.
Leya Simmons (10:54)
Well, I mean, and you and the entire sector, honestly, the numbers that I'm saying have like the that baseline number or the aggregate number keeps going up, but we continue to shed. And that's been true. I'm pretty sure that we have done this that sector wide lost the mid and low level donors since about twenty twenty two.
So the, you know, there's nothing unusual in what you're saying. It that ⁓ I think what's actually frankly very unusual is that you decided to actually do something about it. So ⁓ all right, so you ⁓ let's see, you I think you mentioned before when we met, and I don't so correct me if I'm wrong, that you did try something around like trying to re-engage the smaller donors in something that didn't work. Is that am I right? Am I remembering that right?
Jeff Givens (11:41)
Yeah,
you you're you are absolutely correct. ⁓ yeah, I I'm I'm I'm I'm also pretty good at trying things that don't work. So it's it's ⁓ I Yeah, if that if that podcast comes out, I've got lots of lots of content ⁓ for there. Yeah. our our donor base, just a just a two two second descriptor is is that you know, we're we're under the umbrella of like evangelical Christian ministries and and in and inside of that, you know, we would be focused on evangelism.
Leya Simmons (11:44)
Tell me about that.
You and me both.
yeah.
Jeff Givens (12:11)
you know Christian evangelism. But so it's like we're we're almost like a niche group inside of a of a of a particular audience. And so even inside of the evangelical sphere there's not always agreement about whether or not you should evangelize. And so I just say that as a point that it's we're we're a very niche group ⁓ to find donors from and so we've tried things like ⁓ one ⁓ of one that just kind of comes to mind was whether it was a
at like big conferences, we would have booths and and we've had some success but but never really wide success. We've tried ⁓ buying mail lists. We've tried ⁓ really going after ⁓ kind of associate groups or you know hey you like this you might you might like also like ⁓
Leya Simmons (12:58)
Like look alike
audiences kind of from a meta perspective, what you would do, yeah.
Jeff Givens (13:02)
And and and for us that's that's never really ⁓ been successful. And like our our our core donor base is people that have experienced the the ministry, usually, usually through a local church. And and that's so our issue is is that okay, well, if that's the case and this is something that ⁓ the church does, then how can we best connect with them, but also not ⁓ make the church feel that we're trying just to to pull donors ⁓ away from them. And so it's
Leya Simmons (13:31)
That is a tightrope walking dance for sure, I would imagine.
Jeff Givens (13:34)
Yeah. Yeah. So,
you know, I love our mission statement. It it's clear, you know, we work in and through the local church. And so that's since that's always gonna be our our, you know, modus operandi, we're we always wanna be a servant. And so ⁓ yeah, there's always that ⁓ the tension from our side. We want to make sure that they see us as a as a benefit and not as a ⁓ a a drain ⁓ for what they're trying to do. So so all all that to say it's it's
We tr we've tried a lot of things. We've we ⁓ one time we there was a magazine, ⁓ articles that we ran for a while and and again ⁓ in in Christian magazines and it was it was okay but it wasn't it wasn't spectacular.
Leya Simmons (14:13)
Hmm. Do you have
So you were trying all of these kind of things that were like outside of what you were were doing that was experiencing a great deal of s success, right? These capital campaigns. did did you kind of continue to try those and just reiterate? Because you just described a whole bunch of things and you said, you know, you're you're good at trying things that fail, which again just talked about that at my own personal meeting. But why did you stick with it? What made you continue to try, even though it was, you know, quote unquote failing?
Jeff Givens (14:36)
Yeah.
Yeah. that's that's a good question. ⁓ a slow learner comes to mind. ⁓ yeah, ⁓ I mean, you know, it's it's one of those things that ⁓ I I am blessed. you know, and our president has done a good job putting it together. we're it's a very patient board that we have. and and I think they recognize that we we do have to crack, we do have to solve the problem at some point. ⁓ on ⁓
Leya Simmons (15:14)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Givens (15:16)
on new donors and and especially the mid and lowest tier because a lot of the people that are the board members today are started ⁓ when someone approached them or they went to ⁓ an E clinic and even ⁓ just on a on a personal anecdote, ⁓ I'll ⁓ it's I I mentioned to you it's it's it's board pre preparation week, but there's I've got one donor visit this week and it's a guy that is one of our biggest donors. ⁓ but he started out as like a hundred dollar
$200 a month donor to the ministry, but it was over time that he eventually became ⁓ what he is. And so I think that they've seen that happen a number of times ⁓ within the ministry. And so they they recognize that we've we've got to have some pipeline to re to re ⁓ refill the ranks as people ⁓ age or or move on to different interests.
Leya Simmons (16:06)
Yeah.
Well, and also just the natural, I mean, there's capacity trajectory that you never know where it lives. So I love that your board has seen that and identified that and is not requiring you only to go after the people that are already in that position. I think that's that's that's such a short-sighted way of looking at things. But as development directors, I mean so that's my background, and I know that you're you you came to that this work from a different ⁓ avenue, but that it i i i you can often be tasked by boards with only going after
major donors with no thought at all to that mid and lower tier. So I I've ⁓ kudos to your board when you see them next week. Please do. Okay, so now tell us we've we've laid laid the groundwork here. So tell us about sponsor a nation, why ⁓ what what you did, how you came up with it, and why it's let's see it's tied to your triennial global gathering. Got it right.
Jeff Givens (16:47)
I'll I'll pass it on.
You you got it. And and just cut me off because I could talk forever about this. And I man, I am yeah, it's so the what it is, ⁓ is ⁓ the the Better Unite site that we ran was called Sponsor a Nation. And it was raising money for ⁓ what at EE, we our calendar is kind of th it's a three year calendar and it gets reset every three years at this triennial event called the Congress of Nations.
Leya Simmons (17:06)
I doubt it. Here we go.
Jeff Givens (17:30)
And it's ⁓ every nation that we operate in, and so right now it's it's a little under a hundred, but each of those nations will send two delegates, a essentially an executive director that we call a national ⁓ director, and then the chairman of their board will go to this ⁓ triennial event and will essentially vote on what takes place in the ministry over the next three years. And so it's you know, I rewind, you know, how we how we arrived here was
⁓ I'll go back even further back to 2022. ⁓ we all remember kind of the tail end of COVID and and we had our last event look so different. ⁓ the ministry ended up paying for it all out of pocket because of just how ⁓ ravaged a number of these national ministries were going through the COVID pandemic. But we we could not go back to that funding model. ⁓ before before this will be our sixth Congress, the other
Leya Simmons (18:06)
Right.
⁓ Sure.
Jeff Givens (18:28)
four before the COVID one were all, you know, nation nations raised the money for it. And so we could not g return, we couldn't bear that burden as a as the international headquarters. But we also wanted to help them, you know, find a way to be successful. ⁓ one of our chairmen from Africa, Patrick Morunga, said that, you know, we really need the face of the nations at this Congress. And it's not just a handful from North America or Europe or or Africa or wherever. It needs to be everyone.
Leya Simmons (18:43)
Right.
Jeff Givens (18:57)
From all over the
Leya Simmons (18:57)
A global
representation, yeah.
Jeff Givens (19:00)
That's that's exactly right. And and ⁓ I was ⁓ with a ⁓ a foundation in October of last year and they had shown me ⁓ just a a kind of a a project they had developed on the side. In addition to being running the foundation, they were passionate about private schools and we're doing these little small fundraisers for a you know teachers, whether it's
$200 for a projector or $300 for a a handful of new desks, whatever it was, but I saw it and it clicked. It's like, ⁓ we could we could do something like that for ⁓ the the nations. And ⁓ we went down that road and it just ended up not being a fit. ⁓ great, great ⁓ things that they do. But ⁓ my team, you know, Natalie, Sheila, Emily, we all started looking around for what what could we find ⁓ that could make this work and
Leya Simmons (19:25)
Yeah.
Jeff Givens (19:55)
I mean to say to say we stumbled on a gold mine is is is the understatement of it all. ⁓ but like Better Unite was the platform. ⁓ I I mean it's in addition to the how we set up the fundraisers for each nation, ⁓ having the the requests coming through there, but whether the it ran the banquet silent auction, it it ran portions of our events, I mean it's and that's just what we use this time around. I mean it's
I'm gonna get off track. I'm gonna chase the rabbit. I apologize, but yeah. No, no, it's
Leya Simmons (20:25)
You're so sc I love it. I you don't have to talk it this much about Better Unite. I really appreciate it and it
like makes me feel so happy inside that we that we've created something that supported you, but the story is incredible.
Jeff Givens (20:32)
Well all right, but we'll we'll
Yeah, we'll we'll we'll we'll come back to it later. But there's just so much there's just there's so much potential. Like I mean my my goodness. It's but but but yeah, I mean it's I mean to say it's solved, ⁓ it it it's it's it it answered questions I didn't know I had yet. ⁓ it it really did. And so it's it's ⁓ it really has. And you know, today we we're about sixty or so percent towards the goal and I I have full confidence that we're gonna hit our goal. ⁓
Leya Simmons (20:39)
I love it, don't get me wrong, but
What a good way to put it. That's awesome. Yeah.
Jeff Givens (21:05)
by the time that we're we're there. But it's it really has been just a a ⁓ a massive change in how we did fundraising for the Congress.
Leya Simmons (21:13)
So what you did was you took these the events and then you you kind of overlaid them with a with what in the software world we call a peer-to-peer campaign, right? Where they're and then you got really targeted in what you were asking folks to give. Am I am I right? And that's the setup?
Jeff Givens (21:29)
That's exactly right. Yeah. we asked them for a portion of of to help fundraise for each nation. They would to raise a portion of the registration. The the international ministry, you know, subsidizes that, but they would ha they would raise a portion of the registration as well as their airfare. ⁓ an an estimate ⁓ based on what what I could kind of determine was was was close ⁓ based on the dates. But even that's fluctuated some. But we ⁓ and so every nation had a goal.
Leya Simmons (21:46)
Mm.
Jeff Givens (21:59)
And that would reasonably guarantee them to get to the Congress. And so that's that's kind of what we went about doing.
Leya Simmons (22:05)
That's amazing. Okay, we're I want to tee you up with what was, I think, my favorite story that you told me when we talked the very first time around Pavo. Am I saying the name right? Yes. So tell me about your donor, Pavo. Tell us about him, how he ended up being, ⁓ what do I have here? Seeding a third of the campaign. Just tell, tell, tell, tell the story, please.
Jeff Givens (22:15)
Correct.
⁓ all right. ⁓ well Pavo, ⁓ dear friend to the ministry, long time ⁓ ministry partner, and he's one of our major donors. ⁓ he also is one of our board members. I mean he's as in insider as insider gets. And ⁓ but Pavo ⁓ has never really ⁓ been a ⁓ what would you call it? Like a ⁓
Like some people are just gifted at asking others for money. ⁓ that's that's
Leya Simmons (22:59)
⁓ he's one
of those board members that's like, please don't put me on the front lines. I cannot like it's totally outside of my comfort zone to go up and walk up and ask someone for money. I don't know that there's a term for it, but every development director listening has a board member that's just like that, I promise.
Jeff Givens (23:06)
That's right.
That's
right. Pava Paba will will will help will help fund it, but you know, a little reticent in terms of going to ask. But ⁓ I had the dear pleasure of working with him ⁓ over the Christmas break and putting together ⁓ on the Better Unite site, there's a link to the spreadsheet that that basically explains down to the penny where how we're spending every single dollar and the progress towards every nation. And he and I went back and forth and ⁓ helped to build that and ⁓
And he has has continued to give to these nations. And like even yesterday, ⁓ he sent out a big blast to all of his family members and all of his friends again. ⁓ and then and then sure enough, we receive a number of brand new donors to the ministry for the first time. I mean, it it's really changed his relationship with the ministry. ⁓ I hope I hope he would. ⁓ he'll see this later. I hope he would say that. I I think he would, but
But he he has become such a ⁓ an advocate with his within his circle of influence. And that's been just so fun to watch. ⁓ I've watched his kids become much more invested in the ministry and not just ⁓ financially but but in terms of of picking a nation to support. And that's just been something that's just been really, really fun to watch. ⁓ and you know, and and he'll be there with us at the Congress and and a number of his children are coming as well.
Leya Simmons (24:39)
That's incre I this is the piece that I think people forget about peer-to-peer campaigns. Like when, you know, because I I think that they kind of get this, like they get relegated to maybe a walk run or to what GoFundMe does, you know, like let me just give to my neighbor that had, you know, experienced a tragedy or something like that. But when we're like as organizations handing our potential ambassadors, like that's the word that I like to use. That's what Pavo sounds like to me, a set of tools that allows them to without
you know, in person going up or doing anything that's uncomfortable, you hand them these tools, like they really can g you know, they're off to the races sometimes, like like Pappo.
And I love that you also mention the way that it engages not just donors, because I do think that as a sector as well, we don't do a great job of acknowledging the volunteers that work for us or the people that give of their time and their talent as opposed to just the treasure, right? So the we you know, we we forget to acknowledge that the treasure can bring the time and talent, and vice versa. Both can happen and they are they they carry a lot of weight, each of them.
Jeff Givens (25:48)
That's absolutely right. Yeah.
Leya Simmons (25:49)
Thank you
for bringing that up.
Jeff Givens (25:53)
yeah, it's and just ⁓ the ⁓ one thing just wanted to add on top of that is just that it's been ⁓ like a new relationship ⁓ that I've gained. ⁓ Pavo's someone that you know always been close to but but it's brought us in in ⁓ tighter connection ⁓ around a particular ⁓ task essentially. And he's always the one he's like, hey, when did you update the site last? ⁓ let me see the link. Where is it? And
And it really is like I can tell like yesterday or or was today's Tuesday, yeah, Monday afternoon, I updated the the site. ⁓ and I could tell he sent it out that afternoon because we got donations and I knew who they were because they were some of his friends and family. So it it is just like it's you c I can see how it's it's brought him joy in being able to do that.
Leya Simmons (26:35)
Right.
That's incredible. So you the first time you kicked this off, it was at your live banquet or gala, is that correct? Yeah. So what made you decide to do a live, like give right now moment as opposed to a traditional funding? And was that, I mean, I can imagine that might have been a bit of a nerve-wracking experience if you had before done a fundanid and now you're just like, no, no, no, let me try this brand new thing that nobody's tried before. Well, how did that go down?
Jeff Givens (26:52)
That's correct.
⁓ it
it did it did go well. you were you're dead on about the nerves. ⁓ it's
Leya Simmons (27:17)
So I'm kinda making my palms sweat right now, even talking about it.
Jeff Givens (27:21)
my goodness. It wa it was it was awesome. It really was. ⁓ the some of the the the broader ⁓ kind of ⁓ scope of what's going on is you know Fort Lauderdale is where we do our annual banquet every year. And and it the banquet had gotten to a point where we had we were gonna have to make a decision to either st stop doing the banquet ⁓ because of of poor donor turnout and and giving or
change format to just kind of like a Sunday afternoon brunch and it's a 20 minute update and you know and then we're you know we we either we gotta s really scale back ⁓ or we have to really lean in and invest. And this year was the year this past February we we chose to invest. And the cost we this we've never spent this much in a banquet at least in in my in my time here. ⁓ but we've also never had as as good of a turnout. ⁓ it was our largest banquet we brought in a speaker
And it's we're just we made the decision that we have to target people that are new to the ministry. ⁓ people that know yeah, know yeah, we what was we we did some research and we found out that there's a number of schools down there, private Christian schools, that teach EE to the kids during the school year. And and so they're exposed to it. we had a wonderful event planner.
Leya Simmons (28:27)
⁓ interesting. So yeah.
Jeff Givens (28:45)
set up these choirs to come in and sp sing. And so the the the thought is is that well we can get the kids there that know EE ⁓ we'll get the some of the parents there as well. And and that and that's you know it's a new audience for us. And and kind of the the theme for the night was we want to get every nation supported. And so we we had kind of like a phonethon breaks where you know we started the night with a little bit of fundraising and music, you know, come back to a fundraising
update and then there was you know another speaker and and kind of back and forth and ⁓ it was ⁓ a a little bit of a ⁓ you know ⁓ the two guys that that ran that ran the program or were the were the on stage talent were were more ⁓ comedic and and so that kind of helped light lighten the mood and ⁓ it it was it was it was a lot of fun ⁓ it really was and and we did we were able to get every nation ⁓ supported
Leya Simmons (29:14)
Interesting. Uh-huh.
Sure.
Jeff Givens (29:40)
Not everyone was obviously full fully fully raised, but every nation had somebody who was given to them. And and again, going back to your point that you know so true you said at the top, ⁓ we have a digital platform to give. ⁓ it's nice, but it's not as easy to use as Better Unite. And so we ran everything through the Better Unite site ⁓ that night. And ⁓ it I mean it worked flawlessly. And and so we were able to receive donations, I could update a spreadsheet.
And then that would show up on our LED wall at the banquet to show where ⁓ these nations that had lit up that were supportive, you know, light light the nations was the theme. And so we wanted to light every nation's with at least one donation. And yeah, it was ⁓ it was great.
Leya Simmons (30:22)
That's so I do a caveat here to our listeners that I did not tell Jeff what I was going to say in my little news briefing at the beginning. Truly incredible. ⁓ but I it's and I so I understand too that you just you just said that you were feeding the numbers into the spreadsheet and lighting up your LED wall. I mean, so I I understand from you before that you had had had to kind of step back from the running of the event ⁓ that you had done in the past. How did how did that feel? That feels like that was in the I am
Jeff Givens (30:29)
Yeah.
That was hard.
Leya Simmons (30:52)
Imagine.
Jeff Givens (30:54)
Yeah,
you know, it's it's probably time. ⁓ I that's a it's a I love it. I love I love program directing. I love I love production. That's that's my that's my baby. That's that's what I'm my background. Yeah. But you know, it's it's it's probably time. We got some, you know, ⁓ way more talented folks than me on staff. And so that's they they they did a great job. And ⁓ it it I was I was blessed to be able to sit back and ⁓
Leya Simmons (31:05)
That's your background, right? Yeah.
Jeff Givens (31:21)
And to serve in in this in this capacity. I mean it really it it's it makes it so that we could do ⁓ more of these things. And I'm I'm I'm just, you know, I'm I'll give my two cents here and there, but you they'll they'll run with it.
Leya Simmons (31:34)
That so what did it feel like then, Jeff, to like sit back and watch the LED board light up and all of this these don I mean, how did that feel? I can't only imagine. I'm sure.
Jeff Givens (31:41)
It was it was beautiful. I mean, it really was. It was ca it was chaotic at times, because we
would we would have the guys on stage announce and then there would be all this flood of activity and I would get it and I would put it in. But I mean it it it was it was awesome. I mean it and I, you know, I I don't it was wasn't in a poll or anything, but I had a number of people tell me afterwards that it was it was one of the best banquets, E. banquets that they've been to. And and so that's you know, I I think that they
And and again, this is just just anecdotal, but the speaker, our keynote speaker, ⁓ you know, at one point ⁓ got up there and talked about how he had made a large donation ⁓ to it to Russia in this case. but but but it was because that he had that was his background, that was his family was from. And so and so it just again, it just it really people were ⁓ got passionate about the nations that they were ⁓ close to or had a affinity towards.
Leya Simmons (32:34)
So you got everybody engaged, they felt drawn, people like me give to a place like this. I I it you just hit on all the right notes and it's that's wonderful. So you also, when we talked last time, talked about a Sunday school group in Houston that picked Azerbaijan. Do I have all that right? Okay, I'm just teeing up stories for you, Jeff. Go take take that one away too. I love these stories.
Jeff Givens (32:49)
That is correct.
man, this was this was awesome. And you know, and I mentioned about, you know, answering questions that I didn't didn't know to ask, you know, that this is one. ⁓ our our no again, one of our board members, David Self, he's our chairman and ⁓ he's long longtime ⁓ Eer. ⁓ he has a clas Sunday school class at Houston's First Baptist Church and they decided to adopt the nation of Azerbaijan. I I think the amount was about fifty seven hundred dollars, fifty six hundred dollars to get ⁓
El Shon is the national director and then the the board chairman to the Congress of Nations. Well, I didn't tell him to do this. I didn't, you know, we made the site and he just decided that he wanted to do that. And and I think it's just worth mentioning that ⁓ from that group, I think it is about 16 or 17 donors in total have had given to to Azerbaijan, all from that class. The vast majority were first-time donors to EE. And and why that's significant is that.
I've spoken at that Sunday school class a number of times. ⁓ our president, John Sorensen, has spoken at that Sunday school class ⁓ a ton of times. They I like them, they like me. ⁓ but the difference is is that, you know, they like me, but they they love David. ⁓ they David is the one that and David was the one that got up and asked. And so that made all the difference in the world. ⁓ and so I was just, you know, so so ⁓ it was a treasure to me that I could be there.
Leya Simmons (34:09)
Mm.
Jeff Givens (34:23)
the week that they had reached their total goal. And I had brought with me a video from El Sean, ⁓ from WhatsApp, being able to thank not only David Self, but the entire Houston Surve Baptist Sunday school class for helping him ⁓ get to Congress. So so I think, you know, there's the the personal aspect of it, just the ⁓ the clarity and and just the connections. I mean, they it was it was a real, real special time.
Leya Simmons (34:48)
That's I it's such a good point you're making, Jeff, too, that we like because so often it's the, you know, it's just this kind of development directors are walking. Well, what you do all the time, right? You go up and you meet a person that you maybe you don't know, and they were, you know, somehow engaged with your nonprofit or your your ⁓ mission, and then you're talking, but you're really effectively strangers. But when they already have this love for this person, and then this person says this, it's such an easier lift. I mean, so much simpler.
and much of it's either people like me give to people like this, so you should too, or an aspirational person that I really want to be like that's already in my life gives, so I should do that too. That it's like all of those psychology pieces are so fascinating to me, frankly too.
Jeff Givens (35:34)
No, you you're you're exactly right. And and it's and that what what the fun part was is that that was, you know, it it you know, in hindsight, it should have been, ⁓ but that was not the strategy that I was going for. It just happened. That's right.
Leya Simmons (35:48)
Right. You didn't think to do it. It just happened. Yeah.
Well, so you got all these brand new donors from one group, from one nation, and I would imagine that like not too many people in that group had a real connection to Azerbaijan, or am I incorrect in saying that?
Jeff Givens (36:04)
You're exactly right. ⁓
I don't think anyone in that Sunday school class, ⁓ I I could be mistaken, but I'm I think I could say this with confidence that no one has been to Azerbaijan ⁓ in that group. It's it's because it's because of David and you know.
Leya Simmons (36:17)
It was that one person. That's incredible.
So okay, you also mentioned Puerto Rico to me. So you got forty-five unique donors, if I'm getting that right from my notes. ⁓ was the biggest participation in the entire of any nation in the campaign. Do you what what was different about that one? Why did that one take off?
Jeff Givens (36:34)
Yeah, a great question and an update. They're up to fifty-one ⁓ since the last time that we spoke. So they keep working. ⁓ that one, ⁓ again, it's a little bit of the same story, but it's it's different as well. ⁓ we have a staff member here, ⁓ Will Rodriguez. he is one of our our leaders ⁓ but staff member here and he's Puerto Rican and ⁓ when he saw the site go up, it just like clicked and he went
Leya Simmons (36:39)
⁓ Incredible.
Jeff Givens (37:03)
⁓ full bulldog mode and he reached out to pretty much everybody that he knows in Puerto Rico ⁓ friends of friends he got ⁓ churches talking about it on Sundays taking up collections sending him cash sometimes some people giving him money and then he would turn around and donate it and and what it ended up being is that you know kind of that they again ⁓ will Will Riguez he he loves Puerto Rico
But he also deeply loves EE and was actually came to Christ through the ministry ⁓ of of E.E. And and so he he r in turn he goes and asks, and these people, in this case, ⁓ the churches that he reached out to were all churches that had done evangel evangelism explosion in the past. And so there was a connection there and affinity there. And what's different about Azerbaijan, ⁓ whereas you know, once the campaign's over,
Leya Simmons (37:34)
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Givens (37:58)
we'll keep engaging with those Houstons folks, but we'll probably encourage them to to give to ⁓ our unrestricted ministry. ⁓ most of the Puerto Rico folks will will will never give to EE unrestricted, but they will give to EE Puerto Rico. and and and so I've been in talks with Will to help set up again a a better unite page that would help support Puerto Rico in an ongoing capacity, you know, and if they have a base of
Leya Simmons (38:14)
Sure.
Jeff Givens (38:26)
Let's say you just lose some of those thirty-five, forty donors. That's that's enough to do some substantial ministry in that nation. The ask the, you know, and now I get to work with that national director on well, what's your what's your ministry plan? Let's spell it out, and getting to teach them some of the the finer tools of Better Unite with the email follow ups, the the communications aspects, the reporting. And so really being able to to turn them loose to to fundraise effectively in their nation.
Leya Simmons (38:54)
I mean, it's almost like you're almost creating these like fundraising chapters, if you will. I don't know if that's the right word for it, but so you also talked to me about setting up or thought if you you were thinking about, I can't remember if you did it or if you're thinking about it, but maybe like a genius bar at your Congress in Bali that could maybe teach doing what you're exactly describing, teaching national directors how to run their own pages, their own peer-to-peer fundraising pages. Do you have a any update there, any long-term vision? And please correct me where I was wrong and just
Jeff Givens (39:26)
man, no, no, absolutely that that's exactly right. I I got some flack in the office for calling it the genius bar. so well they associated it with me. ⁓ yeah, they said it wasn't fair. I I wasn't that wasn't my role. So ⁓ so ⁓ yeah, it's update there. ⁓ it's I even I had ⁓ our our national director in Uganda reach out to me ⁓ yesterday via email ⁓ wanting to
Leya Simmons (39:32)
I love that. Why? It's a very relatable phrase.
Jeff Givens (39:55)
set up his own page on Better Unite. I had ⁓ our gentleman in Czech Republic express some interest in ongoing ⁓ help there. And so I'll I'll I'll address even something new newer as well here in a second, but but absolutely ⁓ the the nations, not all of them, but those that have experienced success and have done the work. So in addition to the Better Unite site, ⁓ we produced some internal ⁓ plans for here's
Excuse me, here's who you should contact in a given week. We we pre-wrote text messages, we pre-wrote emails, we did call scripts, we did the whole thing ⁓ to help them ⁓ kind of know what to say and how to ask for how to ask for an ask and then how to get in front of somebody and see if they would support them. And and for those that did that, they they really did experience success and and grew their donor base and and were able to receive funds. Those folks are lining up to come to Congress and
Leya Simmons (40:30)
Yeah.
Jeff Givens (40:54)
What our hope is is that before we get there, that our event is in the first days of November. we would like to run them all through ⁓ sort of a you know, a better Unite Academy. you guys have done a great job with training already, but kind of compare that with some internal ⁓ steps that we have. What's your budget? Think things like that. What do you want to communicate? What are some realistic goals and how will you be sure to ⁓ follow up to things things kind of like that? And so we'll
Leya Simmons (41:12)
Sure.
Jeff Givens (41:21)
That's our plan right now. And then just and again, something that's kind of new has popped up, a new, a new opportunity. ⁓ another one of our staff members that's based out of Houston, not not not David self, ⁓ but a a a different guy. ⁓ he has approached me about starting a Houston 100. a hundred donors that give $100 a month, ⁓ but linking them all through Better Unite. ⁓ this is a guy that's ⁓ used to be a fundraiser for for Rice University.
⁓ super, super knowledgeable. And he just ⁓ what when he saw what we did with the ⁓ the the Better Unite Light the Nations ⁓ sponsor nation plan, he was like, I want this for Houston. And so it's still, you know, again, it just it's it's such a great way to link together a group of people ⁓ with a a central a central person or two for the communication. And and in this case, we'll we'll we'll test drive that probably here in the next month or two.
Leya Simmons (42:20)
that's so cool. I so well, two things. First, two things. First, if you need Better Unite support for your Better Unite training, please let me know. We'll happily I mean, you're welcome to fly one of our folks to Bali, and I'm sure they'd be very happy about it, but you could also Zoom call in one of our account managers and can run the trainings and be happy to do that for you guys. And second, I love that you're moving, so this is like now moving beyond the peer-to-peer and into that giving circle kind of ⁓ effort.
Jeff Givens (42:34)
All right.
Leya Simmons (42:50)
That we all know is so successful, and the and you just like naturally migrated over there. That's so cool, Jeff. I can't tell you, and this was you know, when I I posted about this talk yesterday, and when we first talked, and I felt like you were like, What why is she this interesting? Because it's just it we I hear so much about losing these mid and low level donors, and you actually are doing something about it, and it's you know, in this, you know, just clever way that has is opening up, and I just I really truly hope that folks.
Listening, figure out what it is for their organization. Everyone is different. We're all special snowflakes, but find a way to kind of encourage this level, this, this giving that just really does engage those mid and low-level donors that we we absolutely need in our pipeline. You use the right word there, I think. Pipeline is the word that we're we're we're missing on as a sector. Okay, sorry. So
Less is here's the real headline in my in my in my opinion. If $25 gift, I you even said this when we talked last. I don't know if you remember this, it's been two months, but a $25 gift can feel meaningless when you, like you said, you're raising four and six million dollars a year. ⁓ but when a donor can see Nepal needs eighteen hundred dollars to get to Congress, all of a sudden twenty-five dollars makes a really big difference. It feels like a much bigger gift.
Tell me about that, like what what was the kind of light bulb moment that led you to that thought? Because it I I really think that that is the crux of of this whole conversation.
Jeff Givens (44:26)
man. ⁓ I d I I I don't remember saying that. I I do remember feeling that. I don't think it was that arti I was way more articulate than I remember. yeah, I ⁓ you know, like like like like you and and like like me and like our our families, you know, we we do fifty dollar gifts, twenty-five dollar gifts to different organizations that we're passionate about. But I I I don't I don't expect anything back. I don't expect them to ⁓ to you know, I expect an email thank you or something like that.
Leya Simmons (44:31)
Yeah.
Jeff Givens (44:55)
Don't expect any any, you know, because it's a drop in the bucket against their operating budget. And and I know what that feels like. ⁓ you know, maybe one day I'll I'll be blessed with, you know, huge amounts of money that can make a difference, but to today's not that day. And and I but I still want to be ⁓ a faithful giver, but I also want to ⁓ be able to let people know that of any of any donation amount that they are making a difference. And and to me that that responsibility does fall back on
squarely on my shoulders. I want someone that is sacrificially giving whether it's $25 or you know $25 million. it's a sacrificial gift and they they deserve to know that that made a difference. And ⁓ for for me, ⁓ how this Better Unite ⁓ fundraiser was set up was was that we could show them here's exactly who you're helping. ⁓ most of the pages that we had had a
Leya Simmons (45:36)
Yeah.
Jeff Givens (45:53)
a person's face on it and a little bit write up about them. ⁓ and and so they they got to know who they were helping and they were able to to know it's like, okay, well if I gave $25, that's that's now $25. This person does not have to cover. So even if they don't get the the full amount, they know that they're helping to offset the cost for for this person. And so I think ⁓ for us as a ministry we were you know crystal clear about what we were raising money for.
Leya Simmons (45:56)
⁓
Jeff Givens (46:21)
⁓ that that always is is really helpful. And and you know, and I'm in in this situation with, you know, like you mentioned, well, you know, we're all we're all you unique with our ministries and and not for profits. And that that's so that's so true. And in this case, this is something that we were, you know, as a ministry, we're we're we're gonna do this, you know, regardless. And ⁓ it's something that we had to step out in faith to to see if there was a way for us to get it done. And ⁓ and to be able to connect with those mid to low tier donors, the $25 givers.
⁓ that's that that had to be part of the solution to just cause there wasn't a way to do it otherwise. And you've been able to see that happen.
Leya Simmons (46:56)
Yeah.
That's incredible. I have so many, I've got so many questions listed here, but we're running out of time. So I really want to give you an opportunity to tell us. I I I got some of the information wrong, or actually that's not true. Some of the information has increased since we last talked. So tell us where things stand now. Like what are the ⁓ the donors, the number of donors maybe that you've engaged and please, if you don't have any of this data or if you you don't know that it's right, please tell me. But dollars raise, percentage to goal, like where where does the campaign stand right now?
Jeff Givens (47:21)
Got it.
very good questions. ⁓ as of today, we have over 285 ⁓ unique donors to this campaign. ⁓ that it's a and we're not quite but a little just shy of 500 total gifts. ⁓ most people ⁓ have given multiple times ⁓ to the campaign. So ⁓ and of those 250, ⁓ the majority I I I haven't pulled a report recently, but
Leya Simmons (47:47)
Wow, interesting.
Jeff Givens (47:56)
About two-thirds are brand new donors to the ministry. So for us, no, no contact, no didn't know them beforehand. ⁓ a lot of those were gotten at the banquet, but we've also gotten a consistent amount of them as as people have communicated this out, especially through the peer-to-peer fundraisers. ⁓ right now our goal is four hundred and ⁓ seven thousand dollars. ⁓ against that, we're at 63%.
And about 200 and ⁓ I won't pull up the tab here, but it's about two hundred and ⁓ sixty thousand dollars what we raised. ⁓ it it's worth mentioning. ⁓ my my my president told me ⁓ yesterday that he's already heard from some different major donors that will help close the gap. If we get down to 50 or something like that, there are there's already people that are lining up wanting to ⁓ help ⁓ finish the finish it off. So again, it's it's an encouragement to the major donors as well.
Leya Simmons (48:52)
I I you that is an incredible point, Jeff, too, because I have and I and I find this argument not doesn't have a ton of merit in the first place, but I have heard it articulated that like, wait, well, if we take the focus, you know, eyes on the prize, if we take our eyes off of the major donors, and the major donors see that we're starting to raise money from mid-level and smaller donors, then maybe they're not going to give as much. But what you're finding is exactly the opposite. It's incredible.
Jeff Givens (49:16)
Exactly the opposite. That's right.
Leya Simmons (49:18)
All right, so if you have, we've got some development directors out there listening, some some folks that are are running their own their own mission, their own ministries, and they've got that same 90-10 problem. What would you say that they should do this week?
Jeff Givens (49:34)
man. ⁓ this week we'll reach out to you. I mean that's ⁓ that would be that's the short answer. And I I know ⁓ I it may sound tongue in cheek, but it it's that's certainly not. ⁓ it really has it really has been a game changer for us. and but but but in addition to that, ⁓ I I would ask them this question, you know, it what is something that that you do ⁓ that could be segmented out.
Leya Simmons (49:45)
That's very kind.
Jeff Givens (49:59)
To align with a passion or affinity that somebody already has. ⁓ look looking back, ⁓ again, I I I I I wish I could say that I had all this thought out from the outset. ⁓ what what made the difference in this case for for us is that we were aligning with ⁓ nations that people often were already passionate about. ⁓ people had visited there, they ⁓ maybe they ⁓ went there for their honeymoon or
They went on a mission trip as a kid, or maybe they're from there. ⁓ my case, my my wife's from the Dominican Republic. So we're we're we're passionate about the DR. And so everyone's got some nations outside of the USA that that they care about. And to be able to match that and not and still maintain inside of our mission and our vision, it doesn't change anything as far as our focus. It doesn't restrict any money.
Leya Simmons (50:38)
Absolutely.
Jeff Givens (50:52)
⁓ so if there's something like that that you that you do that that could be attached to something broader that would help bring in a new audience, maybe that's something that we're thinking about or or talking about.
Leya Simmons (51:03)
That's incredible advice. I I hope that everybody listening wrote every piece of that down and if not, go back and relisten to this what Jeff just said, because it's incredible, incredible advice. Jeff, anything else you want to tell us about what's next for evangelism explosion or what you see on the horizon? Anything else?
Jeff Givens (51:21)
Well, ⁓ I hope to send you an email on August thirty first ⁓ with the success of of our campaign. That's when we'll close it down and then we'll start to purchase tickets and do things like that. That's kind of on the immediate horizon. and then in addition to that, ⁓ it it really is ⁓ our fiscal year started July one. So we've entered a new ⁓ a new fiscal year and ⁓ Better Unite is a is a really is a big part of it. ⁓ we're we're planning all kinds of ⁓ in addition to next year's banquet.
we'll we'll we've already started to develop that. ⁓ other other things on the horizon for for EE. we're we're a traditionally a small a small shop. it's myself and our president that do the vast majority of the fundraising. And this and and this year ⁓ we're gonna incorporate we're we're we're lumping in one, two, three, four more people to that. ⁓ but it's
Leya Simmons (52:05)
That's incredible.
Jeff Givens (52:18)
But again, I I it's it's the truth. It's because of the success of Better Unite, ⁓ we realize there's a number of staff members that that are that have the knack for fundraising. And so they'll pick up a portion of their role will well be to fundraise. And so that's something that we're trying to, you know, get more get get more organized and get more ⁓ serious about ⁓ a broader development strategy. And so that's something that I'm really excited about in the days ahead.
Leya Simmons (52:45)
I just can't, Jeff. It has filled me up to know that Better United's been able to play even a small part of this. My cheeks hurt from smiling throughout this so much. Thank you for sharing your story and thank you for allowing Better. I mean, you're really doing all the hard work. I really want to make sure that everybody hears that. And that, you know, we can be a contributing factor to it. Just is incredible. And anyway, I appreciate your time today so much. I I like I really do I I'm I was telling saying this yesterday in a post.
That I I kind of get data fatigue sometimes because you get all this information, all this information, and you know, it can sound good, it can sound negative, but like a lot of times I'm just like, I don't know what to do with this. You know, I'm not sure what's the action to take. And you have come up with an action that has proven itself to work for your.
Organization for Evangelism Explosion and your community and your global community. And I I find it so inspiring. I truly hope others take heart and listen. Thank you, Jeff. I really appreciate you.
Jeff Givens (53:45)
Way, it's been a pleasure today. Thank you for having me.
Leya Simmons (53:47)
Ugh my ple. So everybody listening again, please go back and listen to anything that you might have missed. I'm trying to find my share button here. I've just been enthralled and not telling you all anything. I want to share with you what's coming up next with our in our next 501c drop.
⁓ I didn't even share this at the beginning, Jeff. Here's your intro slide. This is our our conversation. It was wonderful. If you have Jeff, I hope it's okay. If people have questions, they can ask you as well. ⁓ I've got Jeff's information here. We'll put that in the show notes. You can also email BetterUnite support at betterunite.com. If you have questions, we will make sure to get the answers from Jeff. And you can also connect with me if you scan the QR code there on LinkedIn. You can also find me on LinkedIn at Leya L E Y A.
spelled Weird Simmons. And next week we will go behind the scenes with Kirby.
For event day breakdown. She, Kirby Kathy on our team is our event specialist. She has attended truly and literally over a thousand events in the last couple of years. She knows everything to avoid, everything to absolutely do. Jeff, I think you should join this one as well, given you're leaning into your events. Everything to make the people that attend your events as happy as they can be. And let me also add, make your staff, the people that are running your events, staff and volunteers, let them be happy too.
Do not need to be terrible. They can actually be quite fun. Kirby finds a way to have fun at every event she goes to, and she goes to a whole lot of them. So join us next Tuesday, August 4th at 1.30. You can scan the QR code if you're looking. Otherwise, come back, listen on the podcast on Spotify, or find us on YouTube. We've got
clips there on YouTube as well if you want to send out small clips from these. ⁓ We love for that for you to do that also. Thank you so much everybody for joining us. Also Jeff mentioned BetterUnite a couple times. So if you want to scan this QR code or email again, support at betterunite.com.
We would love to show you around Better Unite. Our team is ready and waiting. They can we show you exactly how Jeff built out a peer-to-peer campaign with and alongside an event. We do it all the time, every single day, and we love to show new people how to do that. So scan that, go to request a demo from betterunite.com. If not, again, I really appreciate you, Jeff. Thank you again for being here. Thank you for all that you do, for your huge heart for your ministry and for sharing all of that with us.
Today. Everybody else, thank you for joining us. Have an incredible rest of your day, and let's all go do some good. Bye bye.