96. Finding Joy in Fundraising with Tesha McCord Poe

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Tara: Welcome to Mindful School Marketing. I’m Aubrey Bursch. And I’m Tara Clave. Today we’re joined by Tesha McCord Poe. Tesha is the founder and CEO of Joy Raising, a consultancy she established after a career as an attorney, law teacher and senior leader in the independent schools in the Bay Area. Joy raising works at the intersection of fundraising and DEIB work through a lens of inclusive philanthropy.

Tesha is the mother of two young adults, one who just graduated from college and another who is a college junior. She’s a widow who co authored the acclaimed book, Beyond Widow. Welcome, Tesha. Thanks for joining us today. 

Tesha: Thank you so much for having me. I’ve been looking forward to our conversation.

Aubrey: Absolutely. And we’re so excited you’re here. Can you share the inspiration behind starting joy raising and how your approach to fundraising in a DEI differs from traditional consultancies? 

Tesha: Sure. I, um, have wanted to be an entrepreneur for, I’m going to say forever, but I can put, I can pinpoint it to when I was growing up on the University of Chicago’s campus.

And if you know that campus, you’ll know that the, um, the university has rich resources and it’s surrounded by neighborhoods that are rich in culture, but a lot of times, um, have, are under resourced. And so it was curious to me why, you know, my sister and I were going to this great school and the kids that we went to church with, and that we had dance class with were smart as we were, but they didn’t have the educational opportunities and other, um, access that we did.

So it was curious to me. And so I started learning about it. And, um, I concluded after studying it in college that the quickest ways to, and most impactful ways to break cycles of poverty are through education and entrepreneurship. And so that really sparked the desire to be an entrepreneur. So I didn’t know what I could bring to market.

And, uh, I went to, I did a JD MBA at Northwestern and I, I found it like less than two weeks ago, I found this journal that I had while I was in Oprah Winfrey’s leadership course. She actually taught a course while I was there and she had us keep a journal. And so on October 13th, 1999, I wrote in that journal.

If I could have a consultancy that helped women on interest in companies and being involved mother and wife, then my vision for my life would be complete and 20 years later on October, 19. Uh, 2019, I founded Joy Racing, and so, um, this has been in my heart for a long time to do what I’m doing, and so what I found that I could bring to market after a lifetime, literally a lifetime in independent schools, because my dad was a, uh, independent school, uh, first faculty member, then administrator, was my love for these schools, and also my, uh, Learned love for fundraising.

And so joy raising works at that intersection of DIB and, um, all things, fundraising advancement, et cetera. And, you know, when you think about what’s different about joy raising, I’ll start with what’s similar to my peers who I have so much respect for those of us who are out here trying to help schools do this work, what’s similar is that.

We are in the business of helping schools to raise more money. And so certainly that is, you know, front and center at what joy raising does. What we do that may feel a little different is that we want to do it with purpose and actually with joy. So one of the things that I start with usually is, you know, how much do you love fundraising when I’m talking to boards and talking to groups and like how many fingers show me how many fingers and I don’t usually get the five fingers, right, I get to I get three like the board chair will give for, you know, But my goal is always to add another finger on their hand because there is great joy in fundraising.

It terrified me at first, but now I’m, you know, I really love it. One more thing I’ll say is that joy raising is different because we have convenings. So throughout the year, we bring people together who are interested in the top of inclusive fundraising. One of them is called the Academy, where we bring everybody together who is interested in that topic, and we learn and we grow together.

The other is called the Summit, which I do at my alma mater, um, the University of Chicago Lab School. And that’s for leaders of color in fundraising, because we are a small portion of the whole landscape to really dig in deep to why we’re there and how we can thrive. So that, that’s a little bit different too.

Tara: There is so much I love about this. I love the idea of something of learning to love fundraising. Uh, in addition to my, my job as a website agency, I also am on the board of a local nonprofit. And I am the chair of the resource generation committee, which is fundraising. And so I’m trying to learn how to love it.

So I’m really interested to hear more about what you do. And I’d love to start out. Maybe if you could provide an example of a capital campaign or a fundraising campaign that you’ve spearheaded or worked on and what made it particularly impactful. 

Tesha: Okay. So I’ll start with one that I didn’t lead, but when I came to the school, it was underway and that was, uh, what they call a spin down.

Endowment where they raised a bunch of money was about 800, 000 that they were then infusing into the program. So they had all kinds of grants for faculty. They, you know, um, made a maker space. This is years ago, uh, before, you know, everyone had done that. They made a temporary maker space. They, um, had faculty going abroad to try things they created.

All kinds of ways to infuse, um, new learning and growth for faculty and staff that then immediately serve the students that were there. And so I came in at the tail end of it and I, they said, go talk to these donors. And so I had to figure it out what they were doing. I had never worked with a spin down endowment before.

And, um, it really helped me to, Uh, learn the school and learn the donors quickly. Now, I mentioned that because what happened was we had all these great new learnings and, uh, things that, uh, faculty wanted to do, we realized we didn’t have the facility to properly have them do it. So that turned into a building campaign that I did help to spearhead.

And so I think it’s just such a great example of not doing, not having a campaign just to have it and to be creative about what, how to do it based on what your actual needs and what you want to do. Want to do because if we had, if we had raised an endowment for the infusion into the school, that would have been a lot more money and most importantly, a lot more time.

And we wanted to do it right away.

Aubrey: That’s fascinating. I’m, I’m, I’m very, I have so many follow up questions regarding that, but I’m just, it’s so interesting that, um, schools have these many different ways of, of spending money and structuring. strategies around, you know, how to raise money. Um, and it seems like being strategic is also part of that, right?

We want to be strategic about fundraising. Um, I’m so curious, you know, um, as someone who works a lot with schools and fundraising, you know, oftentimes there are tough conversations around fundraising. However, I love how you’re emphasizing the importance of tackling even those tough conversations around philanthropy, including money, race, and class.

Um, I’m I’m really curious. I’d love to hear. Why do you think these discussions are crucial for organizations today, especially for schools? 

Tesha: Yeah. And, and, you know, we’re having this conversation, um, barely a week after our most recent presidential election. And so this, it feels more relevant, um, now than it did a month ago to have it, but it’s always relevant.

And so the reason why I really love using this lens of inclusive philanthropy is because I think it gets at, The core of what we’re actually trying to do, right? So we raise money to infuse into our program so that we can do better. Right. And so when we’re talking, when we, you know, when you’re asking someone for money, you’re really asking them to do something they don’t have to do.

And, you know, what’s funny is that unlike selling something that’s tangible, what we’re selling to them is the opportunity to be a part of something good and the good feeling that goes with that. So if I don’t know you and have an appreciation for you, the context of who you are, it’s a lot harder for me to do effectively.

And so I think it’s really important that we take what we’re doing seriously as fundraisers and say, okay, if we want everyone to be involved in what we’re doing, then we need to have the space and the knowledge and the care, whoever they might be. Even if that’s uncomfortable, even if that’s currently unknown to us, even if they’re not in our community yet.

Right. And so that does take a bit longer to do. It can feel a little scary to do. But I actually think our mission requires it.

Tara: I couldn’t agree more. I could not agree more. How do you measure the success of the strategies now, what you’ve implemented them, especially when you’re talking about making, you know, some significant transformative types of change? Yeah, 

Tesha: that’s going to, um, that’s going to depend on the context usually.

So that’s why, you know, whenever I’m engaging with an organization, I want to know what does success look like to you and what does wild success look like to you? Um, because I may have ideas about what that could be and I can share those ideas, but at the end of the day, it really needs to resonate with that community.

And so again, of course, we’re trying to raise more money. So that’s a measure of the success of our strategies, but I’m also looking to see you. Who has been involved in helping you raise that money, right? So it’s not just, do you have a hundred percent? If you look at your, you know, your annual fund list, you have a hundred percent often people, you know, organizations can get close to that a hundred percent.

But what I want to know is, do you have the best gift from each of your constituents? So if you look at your top 20 donors and none of those are folks of color, but they could be, Because you have folks of color of means in your organization, but they haven’t bothered to give their best gift to you. I want to interrogate that.

Why hasn’t that happened? Did we not even approach them because we don’t know how to talk to them or we don’t think we know how to talk to them? Or did we, um, just assume that they have other priorities? Or did we ask and they, you know, We didn’t, they didn’t respond well, and we need to try again. So that’s the kind of measure that might not be obvious, but that we’re looking for.

Why are we looking for that? Well, one, you’re leaving money on the table if you’re not getting the best gift from all of your constituents. The other is, part of what we’re trying to do is to create belonging in your organization. A great sense of a measure of belonging is giving your best gift. Because you care about the organization.

Probably because you feel the organization cares about you. So that’s just one thing that we look at.

Aubrey: I really appreciate you bringing this up. Um, it is that connection. And why aren’t they giving their best gift? Right? You, you, you ask such great questions there. And I think perhaps schools. Um, and so I think that’s something that schools have to consider. I mean, they need to consider that. I mean, those are wonderful questions and involving our donors, um and understanding, you know what’s important to them.

Did we miss the mark somewhere? Did we did we not connect with them? Have are they not actually getting the experience that they want is, you know, I think these are all great follow up questions to ask and definitely to dive into. So I appreciate you kind of bringing that up and helping our schools explore that a little more.

I’m curious, um, You know, let’s say a school is looking to start their own journey towards a more meaningful, you know, more meaningful impact in terms of equity in their practice. Where might they begin? Because it can seem, I’m sure, a little overwhelming if people are like, Well, I’m thinking of our small schools out there who are juggling many things like, Oh, we have so much in the air.

How do we do one more thing? Like, where to start? 

Tesha: Yeah, I love the question. How can I, um, focus on DEI in my work if I’m trying to have big goals, right? As if those are, you know, against each other as goals. They’re not. They don’t have to be. And I think at the core, they’re really not. So where do they begin?

They begin with their mission. If your mission is not requiring of you to be inclusive, Don’t do it. Don’t do it. If there’s no room in following your mission to be inclusive, don’t do it. You’re going to be, you know, going up against a wall. I personally, in the hundreds of schools that I have interacted with in one way or another, have never seen a mission that didn’t have room for inclusivity.

In fact, often it’s Overtly stated in the mission. So start with the mission. A few reasons. One is that all your constituents have either overtly or implicitly agreed to your mission. The other thing is everything that you’re doing should be in aligned with your mission. And so that’s going to make it easier.

It’s also going to make it curated, your efforts curated for who you actually are, right? So you’re not looking to the school down the street who’s doing some program that’s very, you know, close to who they are mission wise, but you’re going to do what you do, what you do best. That’s going to be sustainable.

That’s going to be inspiring. You’re going to be committed to that and you’re going to feel great reward when you accomplish it. So that’s what I would say, start with your mission.

Tara: I want to go back. You mentioned your academy, and I’m really interested in that. So, um, in terms of leadership and fundraising leadership. So we’re talking about, you know, adding diversity to your fundraising campaigns and, and reaching a broader group of donors, but also that. I would think that would also be helped be aided by having a more diverse group of people in leadership roles in the fundraising arena.

So can you talk a little bit about your experience with that, what you’re seeing in terms of how, how, um, how to recruit more people into, um, fundraising, um, from different backgrounds and races and also, um, you know, what their experiences are. Are they being welcomed there and how to make that a more, um, a more welcoming environment if it’s not.

Tesha: This is, um, a couple of thoughts come to mind. One is that this is where your collaboration with admissions is really important because admissions has done the work to Identify people to get to know them. I was an admissions director at one point and it was such rewarding work. And now some of these kids, like I knew them from kindergarten and they’re doing great things in the world.

So you get attached and you get to know them and their families really well. And so, uh, admissions can be a great partner in this. And so, um, I would, I would start with that. And then, uh, one of my favorite anecdotes to share is that, uh, I was at a school and we had a new family and, um, there was. public information about a liquidity event that they got that was very, you know, very lucrative.

So we felt pretty comfortable asking them for a sizable gift. And so the, um, the dad of the family said to me, he’s like, you know, this thing you do where you ask for money and You give me a big amount that you’re asking for and then I’m just supposed to give it without anything in the return. We don’t do that from where I’m from.

We just don’t do that. And so it was a reminder that it is kind of strange that we’re asking people to give money for the exchange of nothing tangible, right, to speak of. And, and so to Take a pause and get to know who your people are so that you can help them come along. He eventually became one of the biggest donors to the school because it wasn’t that he wasn’t a generous person and actually we helped him and his family build, uh, in terms of using philanthropy as an expression of their generosity.

So it wasn’t that he didn’t have it in there. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the money. It was that he didn’t have the information about why we were doing what we were doing and how they as community members needed to be a part of it. And so I would say in terms of you know how people trying to diversify their boards and and bring more a broader spectrum of people into fundraising to really sit and say, Who do we consider a donor of consequence.

Now most people would think about their biggest donors, and certainly those are donors of consequence but there are other ways to measure that, such as who has influence in your community. Whose voice and behavior are people watching, right? Another thing I do with schools is help them create a philanthropy mission statement, and that helps people from, you can share it even in the admissions process.

People understand that beyond tuition. This is a part of being a great community member. And this allows us to do some extraordinary things for our students. And so, um, taking the time to be empathic to, you know, your constituents to think about, well, how are they going to be convinced of it? I learned to love fundraising because I had to.

Right. It was a part of my job description. I had goals I had to make. So I had to figure this out. And if I wanted to have fun doing it, not continue to just be terrified of it. I had to fully immerse myself. Most people don’t in your community don’t have that mandate. Right. So if I’m empathic to who, to their circumstance, I need to set up the systems, the information, the opportunities for them to really understand what we’re trying to do.

And that may look different across different constituencies. Right. 

Aubrey: That’s so true and fascinating. I really appreciate you bringing, bringing that up. Um, I, I find that every community is different and also every, you know, potential objection to giving, you know, there, they might be very unique or there might be a lot that we don’t know because we haven’t really had those conversations like you had with that, that gentleman about like, Okay.

So, you know, is there, you know, why, you know, why give, why don’t get, why aren’t you not giving, you know, these are really good conversations. They open doors to us listening and understanding, um, other people’s perspectives and where they’re coming from, which is all about that connection and relationship building, which helps us be better fundraisers and put the fun back in fundraising too.

Um, so thank you very much for, for sharing that. I think that was very helpful to our listeners. Um, I’m curious, I’m going to switch, you know, kind of gears here. Um, we are the Mindful School Marketing Podcast through the, so through the lens of this podcast, uh, we talk about mindfulness and how it applies to independent schools.

So how do you define mindfulness and how does it look like when you’re working with schools or impact the work you do with schools? 

Tesha: Yeah. For me, mindfulness is clarity of purpose, and so what it looks like is always being able to say yes. To the question of is this decision policy, whatever we’re doing.

Is it on behalf of and for the benefit of our students who are here to be educated? And so if we can always say yes, then we get to that question. Then we’re probably headed towards a good decision. But if we can’t, and as adults in school, sometimes we forget that question. We can’t say yes, you know, and, and, and in advancement, this can happen quickly when you’re starting to talk about events.

And events that kids are not at, for example, or if we get really motivated by a goal and we see opportunities to get there that are not aligned with what’s best for students, then this can get in the way. One of my best examples of that is I was an interim head of school during the second wave of COVID.

And so it was at a point where people were deciding masks or not, uh, you know, remember when parents weren’t allowed on campus. So we had a group of dads who wanted to have poker night on campus on a Sunday. So no kids outside. And so this, you know, it seemed. During that time, it was a relatively safe thing to do.

The question was, was it a reasonable request and should I say yes to it? And so my standard was, is this something that we can provide? We want our kids to be in school for as many days as possible, as safely as Possible. Okay. And so this hadn’t their request had nothing to do with kids being in school safely.

And beyond that, the maintenance crew was going to have to be there to help make sure that they were entertained, you know, safely and all this stuff. And so that was an easy. No, the people were disappointed by that. No, but the clarity was. It actually was not on behalf of the students, maybe down the road, because we had, you know, dads who, you know, uh, were deep in their relationships and such community building.

But for that moment, it was not the right thing to do, from my opinion. But so that’s, that’s always what I’m thinking about in terms of mindfulness, the willingness to have boundaries around this question of, is this best, what’s, uh, for our students 

Tara: who we are here to serve. I love that being focused on a mission is so important and it’s, and it’s really hard in those times of stress and, and distraction.

So coming back to that, always, I know the organization that I’m on the board of does that too. And it, it, it doesn’t come naturally to me. So I’m always impressed when I see organizations that do it just as, just as Part of what they do. Um, so that’s awesome. Um, we’re gonna move on to rapid fire questions now.

So our first rapid fire question is if you could put one book as mandatory reading on a high school reading list, what would it be? 

Tesha: Easy answer. Isabel Wilkerson’s Cast. 

Tara: A great book. 

Aubrey: Nice. Thank you. Um, what is one app you couldn’t live without? 

Tesha: My podcast app. I know it’s not one that you overtly download, but I, um, I, my kids are away as you, uh, shared and I’m also a widow.

So I live by myself now and it makes me feel like I’m having these great conversations with really smart people. Um, so I definitely need my, my podcast app. 

Tara: That’s great. We’ll have to connect offline about your favorites. I listen to podcasts a lot too. What are you 

Tesha: reading right now? Um, I’m reading, uh, two books, not getting too far with either of them, but wanting to sit wanting to, one is, um, by the time you read this and it’s, uh, I forget the woman’s name, but she was an anchor and a, um, Uh, beauty queen and a young, uh, black woman who took her own life and, and had, but shockingly to people who knew her because she was quite successful.

And so I’m intrigued by her story. Um, and then the other is our new, um, Supreme court justice Katonji. So I, I forget what the name of her book is, but, um, those two are on my, on my bed, uh, next to my bed, ready to be continued to be read. 

Aubrey: That’s great. Thanks for sharing. And we’ll put those on our Goodreads list.

Awesome. We have a great list, so we’ll make sure they’re added. Well, Tara will. She’s amazing. Um, what is one great piece of advice you’d like to leave us 

Tesha: with? Sure. Um, another easy answer. This came from my father, who was an independent school teacher and, and leader. And, um, passed away four years ago. He always shared with my sister this, uh, uh, this advice.

Make it easy for them to say yes. He did not mean roll over and say yes to everyone. What he did mean was, um, think about the, make sure you’re, you’re asking the right question or for the right thing and then, uh, have the data to support your request and then think about the other person and what it’s going to, you know, where they’re, the context of that they’re coming from, their lived experience, um, because it might feel really easy for you.

That the answer is yes, but if you really consider their situation, it might not be. So make it easy for them to say yes, which I think is really important as a fundraiser.

Tara: Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, it’s been so great to chat with you. I’ve learned a lot and um, I look forward to keeping a connection with you because I think I could definitely learn more in my fundraising role especially. Uh, where can people find you online? 

Tesha: Sure, um, at the site joy raising. com and one day I’ll tell you a story about why there’s the dash, but uh, the dash is important to find us.

And then on Instagram, we’re at Tesha Joy Raising and um, On LinkedIn. And there’s a lot of activity that I do on LinkedIn. 

Aubrey: Thank you. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful, you know, experience with us and our listeners. 

Tara: Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Thanks a lot. Have a great day. You too.