Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hoeppner with my co-host Leslie Hoskins and Timothy Kuo. I cannot believe that we're already like in the middle of December, and time is flying.
Timothy: Yes it is. I'm telling you, it's um, just seems like we just started this podcast in January and here we are at the end of
Leslie: the year.
I know. Had nuts. That actually is nuts. That's gone by so fast. I know. And like the
Christina: holidays, like I feel like I have not Okay. Last year I feel like I was so much more prepared than I am this year and this year I don't even know like,
Leslie: cause this year you are in love. Oh my, you've been so busy. She acts like, like nothing has changed.
You've had a
Missy: drastic. In your life,
Timothy: you're buying Christmas for somebody.
Missy: You
Leslie: double the event. Significant ebner.
Missy: I know
Leslie: it's a lot. You have to take into consideration all of his side of the family stuff. Now, yours. [00:01:00] It's, it's a lot. Blending you together, two lives. Man, and
Christina: I'm so not used to that. Like I, I told him, I said, you're gonna have to be patient with me because I've never done this before.
I've literally never done
Leslie: this before. It's not easy. It really is. It's, it's hard And it's hard for families too. Like when Brian and I, you know, started dating and we had to decide on Christmases, Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving, all of that, it is really tricky. Yeah. It's nice when families can be flexible and, you know, work together.
Yeah. Um, yeah. So will you be spending Christmas. Yeah, I think so. . Oh God. We're bringing it up before it's time. Oh no, Lord. Ok. Just kidding.
Christina: Yeah, I mean, I know Christmas E for sure. Christmas we're gonna have to figure out because we haven't really talked to him Yeah. At this point. But, um, I think we're gonna try and do both, which just figuring out the timing and.
Um, I think we're here. I don't really know. You know, usually I just show up on my own to my families and it works [00:02:00] out great. Not anymore. No, you can't do that. Now. I gotta think of somebody else.
Leslie: I guess , we do Christmas like a couple weeks or. Ahead of time. So like this next weekend, oh, that's coming up.
We'll do Christmas with Brian's side of the family, and then we'll do Christmas with my side of the family and all the nieces and nephews and kids and stuff like that, so that on Christmas we can be in our own home. Oh, I like that. Yeah. Those are my Christmas memories of waking up, you know? And that family came to visit us, but we always were in our own home on Christmas morning, so I'm happy to do that with my kids
Christina: now.
Yeah. See, I always spent the night at my parents. Yeah. Like every year I've spent the night at my parents. Woken up, done that thing and. So, yeah, it's
Leslie: um, oh my gosh. We'll have to all report back. I know. To hear what happened and then we
Christina: broke up. I'm just kidding. .
Leslie: My god. Johnny, we're so sorry. Just kidding.
It was so fun while, I'm just kidding. Oh, Johnny's great. Yeah. I
Christina: love all this turned into holiday play, like what we were talking about doing for the [00:03:00] holidays. It turns into my love life. You just needed
Leslie: update. Timothy, what? What will you do for Christmas? Well,
Timothy: uh, uh. The, this weekend we'll be going to my sister's house up in the mountains of Georgia.
Nice. And then Christmas will be headed to Nashville, Tennessee for three, three days. So we'll be going up there to visit relatives and, uh, Hopefully have a good time and weather stays good and all that snow stays up, up near you all. Cuz we have been to Nashville before and it ended up being a white Christmas, so, uh, that's lovely.
Missy: Well, I guess it is , I guess it
Leslie: is. I mean, Your dog's name is Glacier, obviously. I know
Timothy: she needs, she loves the cold, she loves it when we're in the grocery stores and we go in the frozen aisle and all that meat that's in the coolers. She's leaning up against it going panting. I'm going, how are you? I'm freezing.
And you are panting. Why is that? See, so she loves the cold
Leslie: weather. She's open for a white Christmas. Well, she was
Timothy: raised in Wisconsin, so she's used to it. [00:04:00]
Leslie: Well, that sounds lovely. Holidays are just so much fun. We're so excited. I can't believe it's the end of the year already. We'll be coming back better than ever in January as well to celebrate our one year.
We are in full swing in the giving season, and that means it's also a busy time of year for our philanthropy team at Leader Dogs for the Blind. Today we have a special guest to talk about what this time of year means for a non.
Christina: Yes, Missy is the Director of Philanthropy Personal Giving at Leader Dogs for the Blind.
Prior to coming to Leader Dogs, she was an educator for 17 years teaching both in Hawaii and Michigan. Missy spent the next eight years with a non-profit organization working directly with Unhoused woman and children. She then transitioned into a developmental role at the organization as their director of donor Relat.
Missy's passion for helping others. Brought her to Leader Dogs Fill Blind in August of 2018, and we are so happy you came to join
Timothy: us. Missy, welcome to the podcast. I can imagine [00:05:00] this time of the year you're getting a lot of donations coming at the Leader Dog. What is it like this time of the year for you?
Missy: Oh, Timothy, you have no idea. And let me just say thank you to the three of you. Thank you for including me in this podcast Today, we are gonna talk about some really wonderful things as we get ready to close out 2022. I can't even believe it. You know, when I was a kid, my mom would say, Missy, the older you get, you will realize.
The days will be long, but the years will be short. And they go by quickly. And I thought, oh yeah, you don't know what you're talking about mom. But she was exactly right. I can't believe this year has just flown by. And so to answer your question, Timothy, as the director of personal giving, uh, we do see a lot of gifts coming in year end.
You know, our donors have a lot of reasons for giving to Leader Dogs for the Blind, and we're gonna talk about some of those reasons. But particularly at year end, donors, um, [00:06:00] sometimes are pretty strategic about their giving. We know that some of our donors give at year end, uh, for tax reasons. They wanna save on some of their taxes and then others, they feel just a heartfelt compulsion to give at this time of year.
And so, you know, donors have different reasons for giving, but that's just a couple of.
Christina: Yeah. I mean, and we are so thankful for our donors, our volunteers, everybody who you know, helps make Leader Dog what it is. But me, see, I have to ask you, um, because in your bio I talked about how you were an educator in Hawaiian, in Michigan.
So how did you transition, I guess, from being an educator for years two, working for a non.
Missy: Yeah, that sounds kinda weird, Christina. But, um, I like to say I'm kind of on my third career, and this will be my final career, by the way, . But my first career right outta college, I was a first grade teacher and I [00:07:00] taught first grade for 17 years.
The first part of my career was in Hawaii for seven years, and then I taught 10 years here in Michigan. And some of my friends would tease me. They would say, Missy, are you ever gonna graduate out of first grade ? And I, I'm pleased to say I have finally graduated out of first grade, but I wanna tell you something.
As a teacher, I of course told lots of stories every day to those kids, and I also did a great deal of listening and I had to become a very patient listener as many times first grade stories can go on and on and on, and so it really taught me how to be a patient listener, and so I. Those two qualities in particular, being able to tell a story and also being able to be an active listener.
Those have served me well in my development role.
Leslie: I think that's such a good point cuz one thing you know I've [00:08:00] never really thought about until kind of joining the marketing team and learning more about philanthropy is that one you guys take your donors, their feelings and their thoughts and everything so seriously and you guys do, you spend so much time getting to know your donors, to know what they're passionate about.
Where would their money be best spent? How can you help them reach their goals?
Missy: Yeah, and that's so true. So, you know, I listen as I speak with my donors. I wanna know about their families, I wanna know about their pets. I wanna know, uh, especially why are they choosing to give such generous gifts to Leader Dog?
One of my biggest roles, um, as a director of philanthropy is to build bridges between our donors. And the Leader Dog mission. So I like to think about it this way, connecting the dots between a donor's wants and our organization's needs. So when I can connect those dots and I can build that bridge between the donor and our [00:09:00] organization's mission, uh, it really is a win-win.
I
Leslie: love that. I think that's really cool, and I think that's something that most people don't think about. How much time and consideration goes into building these relationships?
Missy: Right. Yeah, that's so true, Leslie. You know, uh, on any given day I'm making phone calls. I'm, I'm going on visits to visit people.
Um, you know, I think back to c and I sent so many cards and made so many phone calls. And those people now are kind of circling back saying, Missy, you have no idea how much those things meant to me as I was alone during that time. I didn't have, uh, anyone else that was kind of checking in on me. So that was a pretty significant time.
And even now, uh, you know, our constituents, uh, they love to hear from our team and they love to hear, of course, what's happening at Leader Dog and what new work we are doing. So that communication is super important.
Leslie: Yeah. Another huge part that you guys put together [00:10:00] is always connecting with our clients as well, and sharing their stories and their experiences and why Leader Dog has impacted their life and how it has impacted their life.
And you've built some really great relationships with our clients as well because you are really making those connections and letting people know the real life stories of our clients.
Missy: Absolutely. You know, I love being able to send, um, maybe something I've written about one of our clients that I've gotten to know, or even better, I love having people at the campus where they can meet a client and they can see their gifts being put.
To good work and life changing work. You know, Leslie, I think about Shannon. I know, and you know Shannon and I Have you had her on the
Leslie: podcast? Yes. She did a double episode with us. Oh, there so much there.
Missy: So, you know, I don't know if you know this, she calls me her Michigan mom, , and uh, I just love her so much and she is just taking life.
By the tail. She is just running across the country, teaching kids about the [00:11:00] environment. And, uh, all the while Frazier is standing right by her side leading the way. And I'll never forget the story that Shannon told. I don't know if she told it on the podcast, but she said, Missy, when I first started teaching kids, of course now she, Shannon and I have that common bond right, teaching little kids, but she said, The first time I walked in, I said to the kids, my name is, you know, Ms.
Shannon, and this is my invisible dog, Frazier. Did she tell this story? No, but I love that. Yeah. She said, this is my invisible dog, Frazier, and you can't see him. And she said A couple seconds later, this little guy raises his hand. He says, Ms. Shannon, I can see your dog . But she did that because she wanted the kids to focus on her and not be so focused on Frazier.
And that's difficult when there's a cute dog in the room. It's hard for those little ones to keep focused. But Shannon is just a, a beautiful [00:12:00] example of someone who is just living her best life, not only living her best life, but influencing the lives of children.
Timothy: So Missy, let's say somebody wants to start giving the leader dog.
What is that process like? Do they contact you or what do they need to.
Missy: So we have so many, uh, ways, so many different vehicles to give, uh, ways to give so people can go of course to our website, which is leader dog.org. I wanna say our website is very user friendly. So there is a tab at the top and it says, I think it says, uh, ways to give.
You can click on there, and then there's gonna be a dropdown menu and you can see, give a gift of stock. Uh, donor advised. IRAs give a cash gift. So we are able to accept, uh, many different types of gifts and it's all about what that donor's giving priority is. And, uh, so of course Timothy, I can take phone calls.
I'm hoping you'll, you'll [00:13:00] have my contact information up on the podcast. Um, But we can take phone calls. You can do it right online. Maybe you're working with a financial planner. We always encourage that so that you can get, you know, the best advice on what works for your P portfolio. Um, but of course, we are here to assist, um, with any gifts at this year end holiday season.
Leslie: I have already started thinking about my holiday shopping, and one thing on my list is getting gifts from Leader Dogs for the blind
Missy: gift shop.
Christina: That's great, and guess what, you're in luck because for the month of November and December, if you use code taking the lead, you'll get free shipping. But remember, you can only use one code per order.
Leslie: This is amazing news. I am heading to leader dog.org and clicking shop right now.
Christina: Missy, what would make Leader Dog different in how, you know, we connect with our donors versus other, you know, [00:14:00] non-profit organizations.
Missy: Mm. I always really try to be very keen to what a donor's priorities are and what is important to them. So if I know they are, you know, really intrigued and they wanna know more about the training of the dogs, then I'm gonna try to provide them with experiences so that.
They can learn more about how our dogs are trained and maybe even bring them to campus and they can shadow a guide dog mobility instructor for other clients. They wanna know more about that orientation and mobility or white cane training. And um, you know, we recently, I wanna say it was about five months ago, I actually met, uh, one of our o and m clients.
She came to campus, uh, from um, down. The great state of Texas and, um, she actually is a deaf blind client. And she came, I got to share her story a little bit with some of my donors and it was just a really wonderful [00:15:00] way to engage a client with our donors. Um, so that's just some of the ways that we try to stay focused.
We're very donor-centric. It's important for us to know. The donors want to be engaged with us. So that's my job. My job is to do a lot of listening and also ask the right questions. You know, sometimes too, donors have a very personal connection with Leader Dog. Maybe a spouse, um, was blind. Maybe they had a guide dog, maybe they didn't have a guide dog, but they just felt very connected with Leader Dog.
Um, for other people it's. You know, maybe they've driven past the corner of Avon and Rochester Road for 50 years, but they've never come in to see what we're doing. And it's always such a privilege to be able to give tours to people. I have to tell you this story. So I had not been at Leader Jog very long and I was giving one of my very first [00:16:00] tours.
It was a family multi-generation family. And we started in our history room, and I call it the history room because on the walls of this room are pictures of every decade of Leader dog. And so we're standing in this room, the grandmother, grandchildren, daughters, and we stand at the very first picture, which is a picture of the old farmhouse with the very first graduating class of Leader dog.
So let's say 1940 ish. And the grandmother said, That's my dad. And I said, excuse me. She pointed to the picture of the class, I think it was four gentlemen and their guide dogs. She said, that's my dad. He was in your first graduating class. And I said, you have got to be kidding me. and you know, it was this lovely moment for this family as they began sharing the stories about their father and how after he [00:17:00] came and got that dog, it changed his life.
And not only did it change his life, but it changed the lives of this family. And they stood there and cried, and I stood there and cried. And it was really a great reminder for me that I always need to be sensitive to my donors because I don't know sometimes what the connection is going to be in that moment.
It was a very personal connection and I felt honored that that family let me into that.
Timothy: What's great about the donors are if, if they give money today, it's still paying off 20 years later because what they're doing now is bridging that gap for somebody later on in life.
Missy: Absolutely. They're leaving a legacy and we know too that, you know, as one member of the family gives.
And I get to meet, or our team gets to meet other members, other [00:18:00] generations in the family. Many times, those family members, they want to continue that legacy that that older family member started. And we have
Leslie: such strong connections and ties. You know, we're a people organization, right? Our clients come first, but we also do have that animal side of things too.
So dog lovers are drawn to us, so we're extra special in that, and that we're creating these bonds and connections between humans and animals, which I think is honestly the most special thing ever. But we do draw in, I feel like so many more donors because we have both of those aspects and we're connecting.
Missy: Agreed. I actually just signed a lovely, uh, gift acknowledgement letter this morning, and it was a donor who sent a gift in memory of their dog who recently passed away. Not a leader dog. Yeah. But they feel a connection to us in that way, and so, That's another way, you know, I didn't mention this, but sometimes our, uh, donors give to us in memory of someone or in honor of someone.
And [00:19:00] that is just a lovely way, uh, to remember someone who is significant in their lives.
Leslie: Absolutely. And so when you're out and you're working, what is like a day in the life of Missy? Cause I feel like you are all over the place. , like you're building so many relationships with our donors, with our clients, but also your team.
Like you guys have an incredible team of dedicated people who are all for this mission. I mean, we talk about that all the time. That. Leader Dogs a family, and everybody on our team is working towards the same mission and we truly mean it. Like the philanthropy team, you guys are putting in long hours this time of year.
Everybody's really giving.
Missy: Yeah, we are. And thank you for acknowledging that, Leslie, we just have an, an amazing philanthropy team led by Melissa Weiss, and I know you've had her on before. Um, but we are just such a dynamic team. You know, we recognize that our donors are strategic. In the way they give gifts to us, um, they, you know, they know [00:20:00] where they want to give and they know when they want to give and how they want to give.
Therefore, it's important that our philanthropy team is equally as strategic and, you know, really honing into, once again, what is it the donor wants to hear more about? How can we. Impact that the donor is making with their gifts. And so this is the time of year where we're sending those updates. And you know, I don't know if you know this, but a lot of nonprofits, including Leader Dog, see about 10% of our annual gifts coming in.
In that last few days of December. So the year end giving is really, really important. Um, I will probably be making a lot of calls on December 30th and thanking donors. You know, the thank you is so important. I'll tell you, I was on the phone with a lady a few weeks ago. She said, Missy, I wanna tell you something.
You are the [00:21:00] first organization that has ever called to thank. And I thought, well, everybody else should just be ashamed of themselves, , you know, because the thank you is so very important. So our team is really keen on that, and we always are sure to thank donors, whether by phone call card or
Leslie: letter. Yeah, absolutely.
I think that's so important and that goes such a long way, is a personalized thank. And the other thing too is donors donate so much. Like we have such a wide variety of donors, like you mentioned, we have some that are giving some major gifts and have a whole book of, you know, I guess what a whole book of, I can't even think of the word, but you said.
Um, but then we also have donors who come to different events and just donate one time or donate, uh, a small gift and memory of somebody. So it's just such a wide variety and truly the impact that these people are making, or what Timothy said, right, like it's 20 years from now that that [00:22:00] gift is still.
Impacting somebody's life, whether they came here for a guide dog, whether they came for onm, whether they were a camper. That experience is changing lives, and I just think it's incredible and we're so, so fortunate to have you Missy, on the team at all of your work and dedication to the mission.
Missy: Thank you so very much and I wanna thank all of you, um, for, you know, putting this podcast out.
There you are just educating people who might not ever get to come to campus, but this podcast is far reaching, so I wanna thank the three of you. And I also would like to, of course, thank our donors who might be listening. Thank you for the impact you are making. Thank you for the lives you are changing, as Timothy said.
Today and years from today, thank.
Leslie: Absolutely. So before we go, is there anything else you wanna share? Any other tidbits that we should know about or ways to give or any last, I guess, parting thoughts? ?
Missy: Yeah. I would just [00:23:00] say, you know, sometimes people can be a little intimidating by some of these other. Uh, I would call them, uh, vehicles or other ways to give, such as the, the DAF or the stock gifts.
So if you have questions about that, don't hesitate to call. Once again, if you're already working with a financial planner, of course they can give you some, uh, you know, very robust information about those ways to give. But if you have any questions, don't hesitate to call. Please check out our website@leaderdog.org and click on that Ways to Give Tab.
But that's really all I have, and I just wish everyone a very happy holiday season.
Leslie: Thank you, Missy. And thank you so much for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast. I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy cuo and Christina Hepner. We hope you enjoyed learning about the work Missy and her team. Do please continue to join us next week as we dive into the world of blindness.
Yes. And if you'd like to
Christina: learn more about applying to our free services at Leader Dog or [00:24:00] donating, you can head to Leader Dog dot. Or call us at (888) 777-5332. And don't forget, you can reach us at taking the lead@leaderdog.org with any questions or ideas. If you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever Podcast Stream.