[Top Agency Series] The Power of Strategic Fundraising With Kesheyl van Schilt of Blakely

Kesheyl van Schilt is the President, Senior Fundraiser, and Owner at Blakely, a strategic fundraising and marketing firm that works exclusively with the not-for-profit sector. Since purchasing the company in 2013, she has led Blakely to grow significantly, crediting the dedicated team and strong client relationships. Kesheyl started her nonprofit career at Kids Help Phone and credits her father’s influence for her acumen in marketing and business leadership. Throughout her career, Kesheyl has remained committed to helping fundraisers succeed and has shaped Blakely’s culture around transparent communication, continuous improvement, and innovation.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [03:39] The mission-driven approach of Blakely toward fundraising
• [05:05] The decision-making process behind Kesheyl van Schilt’s career move into the nonprofit sector
• [07:19] Kesheyl’s journey from Blakely’s client to owner and president
• [09:07] Why selling shares to team members was a no-brainer for Kesheyl
• [12:47] How understanding internal operations led to new pricing strategies
• [22:32] How better donor experiences drive engagement and retention
• [27:12] The strategic changes made with Heart and Stroke Foundation based on donor insights
• [36:50] Blakely’s hiring process and the importance of a great onboarding experience

In this episode…

In today’s rapidly evolving nonprofit sector, how can organizations bridge the gap between ambition and limited resources while ensuring donor satisfaction? Navigating philanthropy and fundraising can be daunting, but innovative leaders are uncovering successful strategies. Could the secret be a deep understanding of donor psychology and a commitment to creating meaningful experiences?

Kesheyl Van Schilt, a prominent figure in the fundraising and marketing sector, shares how she transformed Blakely into a powerhouse in strategic fundraising for nonprofits. She emphasizes data-driven approaches, such as affinity surveys, to enhance donor engagement and tailor communications. By understanding donor motivations and aligning them with organizational goals, Kesheyl has led her team to make significant strides in the nonprofit sector. Her leadership fosters a culture of innovation that empowers her team to develop impactful strategies for their clients.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Kesheyl van Schilt, President, Senior Fundraiser, and Owner of Blakely, about transforming nonprofit fundraising through strategic innovation. Kesheyl shares valuable insights into the intricacies of effective donor communication and the importance of leveraging data in decision-making processes. She highlights the importance of maintaining a balance between operational efficiency and creative marketing, providing practical strategies for nonprofits to enhance donor relationships.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Kesheyl van Schilt on LinkedIn
• Blakely
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t by Jim Collins

Special Mentions:

• Jeff Eland on LinkedIn
• Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
• Diabetes Canada

Related episodes:

• “[Top Agency Series] Navigating a Merger and Becoming an End-to-End Digital Partner With Kevin Hourigan of Spinutech” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Top Agency Series] Growth Through Acquisitions – What is Your KPI and Northstar? With Jason Swenk” on the Inspired Insider Podcast

Quotable moments:

• “You can only control what you can control. Focus on that, because everything else will just make you spin.”
• “People and relationships are critical to not just your business success, but also your post-business success.”
• “Fundraising is not just about what you do; it’s about tapping into emotions, values, and the feelings that make donors feel good about their contribution.”
• “We’re trying to convince someone they’re going to feel good by giving to charity — and that’s about presenting a compelling problem and a trustworthy solution.”
• “Culture is embedded in everything you do; it’s about living the values you expect from your team and setting the right expectations.”

Action steps:

1. Focus on financial rigor and pricing strategies: Accurate pricing strategies ensure that a company can sustainably deliver quality services while remaining profitable.
2. Utilize employee ideas for innovation: Encouraging employees to share and develop their ideas can create new profit centers, drive company growth, and boost morale.
3. Invest in better donor experiences: Engaging donors with better experiences leads to increased retention and contributions by making them feel valued and impactful.
4. Implement an effective onboarding process: Integrate new hires more efficiently, making them productive and aligned with company culture from the start.
5. Invest in team development and leadership: Cultivate a culture of mentorship, empowering team members and valuing their contributions.

Episode Transcript

Intro 00:15

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Jeremy Weisz 00:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, founder of InspiredInsider.com where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Kesheyl van Schilt. She is the president and owner of Blakely. You can check them out at BlakelyFundraising.com.

And before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes of the podcast people should check out. There’s a really interesting one. Kevin Hourigan of Spinutech. He actually started his agency in 1995, so it was really interesting to hear the landscape of agency life, business, the internet through some of these decades. So that was a really good one. Another one was Jason Swenk. We talked about how he built his agency up to eight figures and sold it, and then he started buying up agencies, and then he started a separate agency group mastermind too so agency owners can support each other. So that was kind of talking about the North Star and mission for an agency owner. So that was a really good one. That and many more on InspiredInsider.com. 

This episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise 25, we help businesses give to and connect their dream relationships and partnerships. How do we do that? We do that by helping you run your podcast. We’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do the accountability, the strategy and the full execution. 

So Kesheyl we call ourselves kind of the magic elves that run in the background and make it look easy for the hosts so they can create amazing relationships, you know, create amazing content, and most importantly, run their business. For me, the number one thing in my life is relationships. I’m always looking at ways to give to my best relationships, and I personally have found no better way over the past decade to profile the people and companies I most admire and share with the world what they’re working on. 

So if you’ve thought about podcasting, you should, I’m biased. But if you have questions, go to Rise25.com or email us at [email protected]. We also have a lot of free episodes on all the questions we get around podcasting, so you can check those out. 

But I’m excited to introduce Kesheyl van Schilt. As I was saying, she’s president and owner of Blakely, and I guess Kesheyl would describe herself as a fundraiser at heart and actually believes in the power of people and philanthropy to effect positive change. Since she purchased the company in 2013, they’ve greatly increased in size. And it’s really, she gives credit to the team, which we’ll talk about culture and hiring and all of that, and also the loyal client relationships. 

And I like one thing that you said when we were communicating back and forth via email, but inspiring people to make a donation to critical missions that make the world a better place is sometimes the toughest marketing job out there, right? But also the most rewarding. There’s some good content, actually, of your team talking about direct response marketing. So we’ll get into that too, because this is critical with what you do. But thanks for joining me.

Kesheyl van Schilt 03:25

Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Jeremy Weisz 03:27

I’m going to, there’s a video version, so I’m going to share my screen and pull up Blakely Fundraising, but just tell people about Blakely and what you do to start.

Kesheyl van Schilt 03:39

Yeah. So Blakely is a strategic fundraising and marketing firm. We work solely with the not-for-profit sector. And our real kind of I think our, our focus or our philosophy is that we want to be an extension of our clients’ teams. In the world of not-for-profit, there are big gaps between ambition and resource. 

There’s always this like push pull between, you know, we want to do more, we know we can do more. And being able to actually get it done, whether that’s through finances, whether that’s through human resources skills, whatever the case may be. And so our, you know, our purpose really is to help fundraisers be better fundraisers and meet those goals and raise the dollars that they need, quite frankly, to serve the missions that are critically important in this world.

Jeremy Weisz 04:47

How did you get into the nonprofit sector? Because, like you say it so nicely. I mean, ambition and resources aren’t matched, meaning like they’re usually overworked and underfunded, I imagine here. Yeah. So how did you get into nonprofit?

Kesheyl van Schilt 05:05

I know, so I think so when I was young and in school, I was the one who was, you know, running the food drive or the charity fashion show or selling raffle tickets or whatever. And I didn’t really know what that meant. Like, it just seemed like the right thing to do. And then I went to university, you know, I was going to be a lawyer like everybody else in pol-sci. And then I was like, I don’t think this is really what I want to do.

So I needed to get a job, and I was working on my resume and the, you know, that bottom of the resume, or at least old resumes. I don’t really know whether they have them on there now, but like the volunteer interest kind of section, I had, like this list of things that I had done that were fundraising related. I didn’t really know that that’s what it was called. And so I went and I talked to my dad, who was serving on the board of directors for what was called the Raptors Foundation at the time. And I said to him, like, do they pay people to do this kind of stuff like run events and things like that? 

He’s like, yep. Would you like me to put you in touch with a few people? And so I took it from there and I landed my first job at Kids Help Phone, actually, which is a national hotline. Well, it’s not just a hotline now. It’s all online now as well that serve youth in crisis. So that’s where I started. And I just fell in love with it. Like, I just love the work.

Jeremy Weisz 06:36

What’s I know because I don’t know if you call it HIPAA or whatever, privacy, but what was the type of calls you were getting there? 

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