NonProfit NewsPod: BDOG Trends and Tools for Donors in 2026

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] Welcome to this nonprofit podcast News Pod. This is a dedicated news pod, the second of four, specifically addressing our Sacramental Regent Community Foundation's Big Day of Giving. I'm joined by Kelly Siefkin, chief Philanthropy Officer with the Community Foundation. Kelly, welcome. 

Kelly Seifkin: Thank you so much for having me, Jess.

Jeff Holden: This episode, we're talking a little bit differently. Last was talking about business engagement. This episode we're gonna talk about donor engagement for Big Day of Giving a little bit more familiar for most of the people. I think it's what, 13 years they've been doing it. Now, how do donors give on Big Day of Giving?

Kelly Seifkin: There is a plethora of ways that individuals and families get involved on big day giving, but financial is the most common one. So people give via their credit card or their debit card, or their daf, or maybe [00:01:00] they're using things like Apple Pay or Venmo or try to be as accessible to folks as possible.

People also give through volunteerism. I dunno if you know this, but you can actually pledge volunteer hours and learn about in-kind needs on the big day of giving. 

Jeff Holden: Did not know that. Is that something new? 

Kelly Seifkin: No, we've had it, but I think we're reaching more and more people and the great thing is Big Day of giving touches a lot of individuals and families in our community.

So I think what people are familiar with is the dollars, and we encourage that because that's unrestricted money for nonprofits. But also consider ways that you could get involved personally. Maybe volunteer, maybe join the first special event, maybe serve on a board. 

Jeff Holden: Do you see post big day of giving what the.

Hours are, or the volunteer expectations are 

Kelly Seifkin: during big day of Giving, you actually pledge hours and then the nonprofit individually follows up with that person to schedule that time and find out how they'd like to engage. 

Jeff Holden: Boy, it'd be great at some point in the [00:02:00] calculations if we could say, boy, this many hours came as a result of Big Day of Giving as well, because that does have a tangible benefit beyond just the dollars.

What are some of the new trends that you're seeing in financial giving on Big Day of Giving? I'm sure a lot has changed since 13 years ago, even five years ago. 

Kelly Seifkin: A lot of things are trending. A really big one is donor advised funds. Mm-hmm. So I think a lot of individuals who hold donor advised funds are beginning to give through Big Day of Giving.

It's really easy. It's seamless. You already have. Put your dollars in, they're being invested, whether at the foundation or another place, you can choose multiple organizations and the funds transfer instantly. So a lot of people are really liking the donor advised fund. Kind of newer trend that we're seeing is stock.

I think many nonprofits are familiar with stock being donated. At the end of the year, um, as a great way for someone to make a contribution. But the foundation will accept stock, [00:03:00] sell it, and then put those dollars into the nonprofit of their choice on big day of giving, which is great. 

Jeff Holden: And I 

Kelly Seifkin: do something we're seeing, oh, sorry.

Jeff Holden: I was just saying on, on stock. I do know there's a benefit too. If you are in a position where you are having to take required minimum distributions, you can minimize your tax liability if that goes too. A nonprofit organization. 

Kelly Seifkin: Absolutely. And I think a lot of people, not only on the appreciated stock part, but their IRAs.

Absolutely. If you're required to make a, a required minimum distribution based on your age, if you're looking to avoid, uh, the tax implication of having that be seen as income, you can direct it to a nonprofit and we see qds. Qualified charitable distributions has that source on Big Day of giving. People are loving it.

If you're already charitable and you would be spending those dollars to support local nonprofits, do it through a QCD on the big day of giving and avoid that [00:04:00] additional bump in income that is then taxable. We're seeing also matches from businesses, which is really clever. A lot of businesses are looking to model that behavior.

For many of their employees and customers. So we've actually seen an increase of this in terms of big day of giving trends. Check in with your uh, employer to see if they'll do a match on the big day of giving. Maybe make your gift your favorite nonprofit. Go a little bit further. And then finally, one thing that I wanted to add that's a trend that we're seeing is that collective impact, as you were called, the minimum amount to give on big day giving is $10, but everyone thinks, how on earth will my $10 make an impact?

Last year, this community raised $13.8 million on the big day of giving. That is a lot of money. And people think, oh, I'm not a millionaire. I can't possibly do that. Jeff, the average gift, the most popular gift size. [00:05:00] So collective impact is a really big trend that we're seeing a lot of people making contributions and making a big difference.

Jeff Holden: Not to mention that $10 gift could be something a child could give, a parent could give to a child to give, to get them comfortable, what philanthropy looks like and what giving looks like, and the experience and the feeling of, I gave something. So I love the fact that that minimum amount exists just because it can engage that many more people.

Over time as they become a little bit more wealthy or a little bit more employed, or a little bit more aware, they can give more because they've been giving for whatever that period of time is since they started. 

Kelly Seifkin: That exposure is so important. We believe that everybody can be a philanthropist. If we can remove any barriers.

Big day of giving is a great. Entry point for that entry, whether that's a young person that's a retired person on fixed income, you know, whatever the situation is. $10 is possible [00:06:00] for so many people that when you make that contribution, you're getting into the habit of understanding that this community is everyone's responsibility and you can't enact positive change through financial donations, 

Jeff Holden: and you get the benefit of that visceral experience of giving.

It feels good. 

Kelly Seifkin: It's true. It's true 

Jeff Holden: you've helped somebody. What do you hope all donors do on Big Day Of Giving? Is there something that you'd like to see everybody do, 

Kelly Seifkin: find their favorite organization and make that gift? I would love that. Tell their friends. Yeah. We actually have a competition called the Spread Generosity Prize that's available and you can actually can win money for your favorite nonprofit by really telling your friends.

So there's some great opportunities. And I always encourage a donor on the big day of giving to find at least one new organization to support. 

Jeff Holden: Alright, so let me ask that question. How do you find one new organization [00:07:00] amidst 900 of them? 

Kelly Seifkin: We've made it a little bit easier than ever before. A new tool available in 2026 called the Discovery Assistant, right when you, um, visit big day of giving.org, you can search by mission category and we'll bring you, if you like, pep.

If you like, uh, supporting children, would you like to support regionally or you like to support in your neighborhood? Would you like to support organizations with big budgets or small budgets? It's sort of a choose your own adventure and you can whittle it down and see a small list, and then you can look through each of those profiles and see if you'd like to support one of those organizations of you may not have been previously familiar with.

Jeff Holden: Oh, that's perfect. That makes it really simple. I don't wanna have to do a whole lot of work and I just wanna find, and I wanna do something. I wanna do something different. Make it easy for me. And it sounds like you really have. 

Kelly Seifkin: Yeah. We're very excited to roll this out this year and see if that'll help, uh, donors find new organizations really quickly.

Jeff Holden: Awesome. So how does a donor work [00:08:00] with the foundation outside of Big Day of Giving? Once you get them engaged, they like the experience. Yeah. And they say, well, I'd like to do a little bit more of what. What happens, what needs to happen, where do they go? 

Kelly Seifkin: There's a variety of ways that, uh, people can get involved after Big Day of Giving.

So a really easy one is maybe become a volunteer. The foundation is always looking for volunteers to review. Scholarships and grant applications for the awards that we present in the community. Maybe they would like to join the Impact Collaborative, which is a giving circle. It's got a lower entry point for many individuals.

It's $300 for the year. Get to go on some tours, get to do a little behind the scenes, learn a little bit more about philanthropy, and help us direct some dollars. Maybe learn from Giving Edge, which is that database that fuels big day of giving what nonprofits needs are. Are there open volunteer opportunities?

Maybe they have some events coming up. Maybe they have some in-kind needs, or maybe they need you to join their board. [00:09:00] Giving Edge is a great research tool to learn about what nonprofits are doing locally. A lot of times a donor will have the foundation come out and share information with their volunteer group or their book club, just kind of spread the word and let other folks know about this great resource here in our community.

I think the, the most popular one for folks is opening a charitable fund. Foundation's been doing this since 1983. We have 800 charitable funds, and whether that's a donor-advised fund or designate fund or field of interest, or a giving circle, or any type. We can help you open a fund that is invested and actually raises more money for you to be able to grant out to the nonprofits of your choice year round.

And that's a great place to engage family and friends. We've had many people turn to the foundation who are. Do not want anymore birthday presents or do not want anymore anniversary gifts. And they can invite people to make contributions to their charitable fund, which means a lot because they can [00:10:00] actually support their favorite nonprofit organizations.

If somebody's thinking a little bit more long-term down the road. Learning about opening a legacy fund is a great place for a lot of donors. It's a $0 placeholder fund. It helps you outline your giving after your lifetime and the foundation takes care of the work. Plus you can put some of those qcd to good use that I mentioned earlier.

Jeff Holden: Okay. That's, that's a lot. I mean, like I Wow a lot, especially coming off a big day of giving and I'm thinking of all the nonprofits I wanna learn about and there's 900 of 'em and I wanna experience the new tabs where I can sort and figure out what it is I wanna do. Whew. There are so many options, so many ways to give to the benefit of our community.

And the easiest way to do this is where 

Kelly Seifkin: go to big day of giving.org. That's kind of your one stop shop, and we'll find the right place for you to, to either start your philanthropic journey, enhance your [00:11:00] philanthropic journey, or include others in your philanthropic journey as well. 

Jeff Holden: We will put that in the show notes as well to make it simple for anybody.

Just a simple click they can go through and get started on that journey alone. Kelly, thank you so much. Very informative, extremely helpful. And now we are only a few weeks away from Big Day of Giving. 

Kelly Seifkin: Let's do this community. 

Jeff Holden: Remember, big Day of Giving is May 7th. Thanks for listening. If you like our program, please subscribe.

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