how to prepare for our coaching call
I’m excited to chat with you and help refine your Giving Tuesday fundraising plans! Here are a few tips to help ensure we have a productive, efficient call:
1. as soon as possible, fully review my giving tuesday planning guide
(You can find the guide here!)
I definitely do not expect you to come to our meeting with a fully fleshed out Giving Tuesday fundraising strategy! However, the more action items you can complete before our call, the better. (Because obviously, I won’t be able to review or provide feedback on strategy elements you haven’t drafted yet.)
For any components that you are able to draft ahead of our meeting, I don’t expect you to arrive with finalized drafts or decisions. No matter what you’ve created prior to our call, I am 99% sure I’ve seen worse. (But really: I’ve seen some absolutely terrible campaign ideas.)
2. at least 3 days before our call, please send over some info i can use to prep ahead of time
This way, you won’t have to sit and stare at me reading through your strategy during our call. ;) Please submit any documents, images, and/or video footage you’d like me to review in preparation for our meeting. Don’t worry about sending over perfect, polished files — the whole point of our call is to talk about ways to improve your strategy and materials! Also, you’ll receive a recording and transcript of our call later in case you need a refresher at any point.
file requirements:
I will review:
A maximum of up to 10 combined pages (in .doc or .pdf format), with all text written with a minimum font size of 10,
A maximum of up to 10 images (in .png or .jpg format), each with a maximum file size of 10 MB, and/or
A maximum of up to 10 combined minutes of video footage (in .mp4 format). If you have multiple videos to submit, each one can have a maximum file size of 1 GB
Please note:
If you submit any documents that contain text with a font size below 10, I won’t review the portion(s) that fail to meet this minimum size.
If you send files that exceed any of these quantity limits, I will only review the first 10 pages, first 10 images, and first 10 minutes of the video(s) you send in.
(Don’t worry — I’ll be glad to review files that do not meet the requirements listed above during our live call! I simply am not able to review them as I independently prep for our meeting.)
Are your photo and video files too large?
You can visit TinyPNG to compress images for free and Clideo to compress videos for free!
Why i’ve set these file limits:
The ethical reason: The most important reason I’ve set file limits is that I strongly believe in advocating for equitable pay for my work hours. I hold this value deep in my bones because I am a member of numerous historically marginalized communities (i.e., minority groups that have systemically faced greater barriers to opportunities); I want to engage in this self-advocacy to help normalize pay equity for all and to model empowering practices for others to help break down systemic inequities.
The practical reason: From a more practical standpoint, though, our call will only be one hour long; it would be extremely difficult to provide feedback and also collaborate to develop a strong, cohesive Giving Tuesday strategy if we have too many files to sift through before we can move on to the part of the call where we’ll reshape, build, or possibly even completely reimagine your campaign plans.
(By the way — do you want to help advocate for historically marginalized communities? Here are 8 ways to be a great ally.)
3. please block out about half an hour in your schedule right before our call
This will give you time to look back over the questions/concerns/areas where you feel stuck that you sent in when you scheduled our call, as well as all the files you submitted prior to our call to help me prepare.
How to find this info:
To find the questions/concerns/areas where you feel stuck that you sent in, you check out the event details in your calendar invitation or search your inbox for the confirmation email you received from Calendly when you booked our call.
To find the files you submitted for me to review, you can search your inbox for a message from Google Forms (which uses the email address forms-receipts-noreply@google.com) that has the subject line “Thanks for submitting your Giving Tuesday files to help prep for our call!”
As you take a second look through your submissions, please jot down any additional questions or thoughts that come to mind which you would like to discuss during our call.
4. Consider scheduling a follow-up call ahead of time, just in case
I’m definitely not trying to pressure or “upsell” you! If you schedule another call now, you can always cancel it for a full refund, as long as you request the cancelation at least 48 hours in advance.
why you may want to schedule a follow-up call in advance:
My schedule fills up quickly, so you may want to hold a spot while I still have openings in my calendar!
I’ve noticed that many first-time coaching participants overestimate the amount of ground we can cover in a single call. An hour can go by more quickly than you think!
I always, always give a ton of recommendations during coaching calls, no matter how pristine your plan already is. Even if you bring a nearly-perfect plan to our meeting, I’ll find things to be nit-picky about — I promise. ;) This is because you’re paying for my advice, and I believe you should get as much value out of your investment as possible. If you choose to implement any or all of my recommendations, you may appreciate having a follow-up call on the books so I can take a second pass at your work and provide additional feedback.