As a Senior Field Representative for Major Giving at Food For The Poor, her story of how she and her colleagues rose to meet the challenge of the COVID pandemic is truly inspiring!

The unforeseen events of 2020 caused upheaval for non-profits everywhere. Florida-based Food For The Poor was no exception.

This faith-based organization has long counted on speaking engagements in churches as a major means of fundraising. But when the lockdowns went into effect, this source of revenue ground to an immediate halt.

“We didn’t know what we were going to do,” says Sandra.

The organization’s leadership set a goal to raise $10 million through other channels, with $4 million of that being the responsibility of Sandra’s department. Thankfully, she had two years of mentoring and training with Veritus Group’s Carter Wade by that time. She knew she had to make a plan.

Getting back to basics

Food For The Poor has long emphasized its sustainable development programs. But with reports of dire food shortages around the world, Sandra had a growing conviction that during the pandemic it was time to return to a focus on emergency food relief. 

“We are Food For The Poor,” she says. “I thought maybe God is saying we have to go back to the basics. I believe in sustainability – a hand up, not just a handout – but it was a desperate situation and we needed to make sure people had food to eat.”

Sandra went back to one donor who had already promised to give $50,000 and challenged her to add another $150,000 so the total could be used as a match to inspire others to be generous.

“I wasn’t afraid to ask,” says Sandra. “Food is something people can touch and feel. We were experiencing some shortages in this country, so donors could better understand what it must be like in other countries. I raised more than $2.5 million this year for food.”

A place to put her gifts to work

Sandra came to Food For The Poor in 2003 with no experience in fundraising. She had been active in ministry in her church and exploring how she could use her gifts to help others when a deacon told her that she “needed to be at Food For The Poor.”

But when she contacted the organization, no openings were available. That didn’t stop Sandra! She secured an interview with the president, who must have spotted something promising in her, because he hired her right away.

“And here I am, 17 years later!” Sandra says. “Because God brought me to this place, this is where I need to be.”

After a short stint on the phones in Donor Relations and taking a mission trip to Jamaica “to see and smell and touch and feel” the work of Food For The Poor, Sandra was given her own portfolio of donors.

Back then, the newest major gift rep was given donors from the bottom of the file. “I got the names in my portfolio that no one else wanted!” she says.

Many of the donors on her list were difficult to reach and didn’t answer the phone. But when she was able to get through, Sandra began to make good progress.

“The donors that I did get to talk with were just wonderful people,” she says. “They loved the mission. These weren’t cold calls – they loved Food For The Poor.”

Taking the donor to the scene

Fortunately, Sandra has always been a good storyteller. “I started taking my donors to the place with my stories. I would take them to the scene over the phone. Some of those people I still work with today.”

As this pandemic year has dragged on, Sandra worked with her Veritus mentor, Carter, and she’s found a lot of donors to be receptive to new ideas. For instance, she improvised a new way to take donors to the scene through virtual mission trips. Using Zoom, Sandra would take a donor on an immersive “trip” to visit a community and see the impact their giving had made possible.

To make these virtual mission trips effective required forethought and preparation. Sandra requested the on-site staff prepare a bank of video clips that showed the journey to the village.

“The donor feels like they’re in the car, the dust is blowing, and the chickens are flying around,” she says.

Sandra reports that one of these virtual mission trips took the donor on an in-depth look at an anti-drug program for children in El Salvador. That one trip resulted in a $2.7 million gift!

Keeping the focus on what’s really important

“For me, it’s not about the money. The money will come,” says Sandra. 

She says that in her conversations with donors, if she hears that the donor is having troubles or is ill, she switches gears to focus on the needs of the donor. 

“Even if one donor may not be able to give, somebody else will. It’s not about the money, it’s about the relationship,” she says. “Fundraising is just about bringing people to the highest level of philanthropy, connecting them spiritually to Christ, who is the poor. I tell my donor to lift up the poor, to give them dignity.”

“It’s all about the donor, about the donor’s heart. I want the donor to be connected with the mission and see how together we are transforming lives,” she says. “And by transforming lives, the donor is transformed themselves.”