A conversation with Betsy Steward, former Director of Development for Westchester Children's Association and Senior Consultant with Heller Fundraising Group. Currently a fundraising consultant and mentor at Betsy Steward Consulting.
Betsy Steward is a former opera singer turned fundraiser, and serves as a fundraising mentor through Betsy Steward Consulting.
Betsy shares how she has always been an entrepreneur. She started at age 13 when she taught piano lessons, on to her years as a freelance opera singer, then owner of a computer training company, and ultimately a development professional. The through line is her passion for helping people.
What may have seemed like kismet came from Betsy intentionally attending an event, where she met someone who introduced her to her first boss, Cora Greenberg, the then Executive Director of Westchester Children's Association.
“The definition of my success is less based on money and other people’s opinions. I am less judgemental towards myself and I don’t look for validation anymore” - Betsy Steward
Key Takeaways:
- When considering a career change, think about what it was about your previous careers that you enjoyed and consider bringing those passions and innate skills into your next role.
- If you are considering entering a new field, look into certificate programs or other ways of becoming credentialed.
- Network, network, network. Join professional organizations in your field and attend events to build relationships.
About the Guest:
Betsy Steward is an experienced fundraising consultant who advises clients on major gift solicitation, cultivation, stewardship, and back-office organization. She posts a monthly blog about fundraising that has been recognized. Betsy was Senior Consultant with Heller Fundraising Group for four years, advising clients on capital campaigns and major gift fundraising. Before that, she was Director of Development for the Westchester Children’s Association (WCA) for over ten years, where she led WCA’s Centennial Campaign, exceeding the goal and virtually doubling the organization’s operating budget. Betsy was named 2017 Fundraiser of the Year by the Lower Hudson Valley Association of Development Officers.
Linkedin:- http://linkedin.com/in/betsysteward
Website:- https://www.betsystewardconsulting.com/
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Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment or financial advice. It’s for informational purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.
Betsy Steward: [00:00:00] Neither one of us has financial challenges in our lives right now. We've both gone through life and we have retirement plans set up and all of that, but I think we forever will worry about money because we worried about money as kids. And I don't know if that ever truly goes away. Welcome to Making Change With Your Money, a podcast that highlights the
Laura Rotter: stories and strategies
Betsy Steward: of women
Laura Rotter: who experienced a big life transition and overcame challenges as they redefined financial success for themselves.
Now, here's your
Betsy Steward: host, certified financial planner, Laura
Laura Rotter: Rotter. My guest today is Betsy Steward. Betsy, you have had such an interesting career journey. When I met you, you were just stepping down from director of development at Westchester's Children's Association. You had that post for close to 10 years.
And then you became a senior consultant at Heller [00:01:00] Fundraising Group, and about a year ago you stepped away from that and that's not even the most interesting part of your journey. I wanna start with a warmup question though, because, okay. I believe that when life changes, money changes, and so maybe after I ask this question, as you describe your journey, you can look through this lens and my question.
What was money like in your family growing
Betsy Steward: up? Not very plentiful, although we were certainly taken care of and we certainly had everything we could want, but there were four of us and three of the four of us started working when we were 13, just because we wanted to have some money on our own. Yeah. I don't wanna sound like it was more difficult than it was, but, and I, I'm actually grateful for that cuz my mother taught me a lot about how do you run a business from 13 years old on how do you actually take care of yourself. Yeah, that's an interesting story. My [00:02:00] my very first job I got picking strawberries. At a farm outside of our house, outside of Rochester, New York.
In the end of the week, all the kids from our church group had gotten this job. At the end of a week, the farmer came out and said, in, in a voice you could hear over in Italy, she said, I can't use anything that Betsy picks. It's all gotta be jammed. She's fired. And she said that in front of everybody, which was totally humiliating and horrible.
And so my mother let me cry about it for a couple of days, and then she think you might be ready to start teaching piano. What if we talked to your piano teacher about that? And we did. And she was a teacher herself, and so she helped me make a mimeograph flyer, my younger sister and I went around the neighborhood and my mother said, you're a young new teacher, so why don't you charge a dollar for a half an hour lesson?
And by the end of high school I had 40 students and a really nice income and a lot of experience both teaching and getting business. Like that whole flyer [00:03:00] thing was huge. Later on in my life. That
Laura Rotter: is huge. I really thought maybe you had a paper route or more traditional, but the fact that you were an entrepreneur in high school,
Betsy Steward: she was.
She helped us all that way. She was really good about that. As
Laura Rotter: you look back and create your career story and what one thing led to the other, can you describe that journey? What sticks out in
Betsy Steward: your mind? My first career was as an opera singer. And so I had been taking piano lessons all that time, which really paid off.
I went to college and majored in voice and I got a big fellowship to go to Paris for a couple of years and work with a very famous teacher there, and I ended up coming back. I followed that opera career for a long time. I sang a lot of places and I had a lot of fun doing it, but by the time I was about 40, I was really tired of it.
It's a very demanding career that is not exactly conducive to raising children and to [00:04:00] having a healthy life. And a whole family has to be very concerned with mom's vocal cords cuz if anything happens, can't yell at a soccer game. She can't. It's just, it's too much. And by the time. Reached that age. I thought, this has been really great, but I've done it enough.
I don't wanna do it anymore. I had been temping at my temp agency while I was singing. Singers and performers always have some kind of side job. A lot of people wait tables, a lot of people do other things. And at the, by the time I, it was clear to me I didn't wanna sing anymore. I went for career counseling and they said, oh, you should teach something.
You would be good at that. And so my temp agency had taught me enough and realized I, I knew a lot about the computer. They trained me to train other temps and I said to them, I'm gonna move up to Westchester. And they said, oh, nope. We're not interested in anything outside of Manhattan. So I started my own business much the same way that I did with my mother starting piano lessons.
I realized that the temp agency was charging this much money and [00:05:00] giving me this much money, and they were taking this much money. So I thought, why don't I charge this much money, which was a deal for the clients that I had, and I ended up having a really thriving business all the way until 2000 when that whole industry went belly.
But it was the lessons from having given piano lessons that really helped me get that off the ground. So for
Laura Rotter: anyone who's listening, when Betsy would say this much money, clearly implying that the client was charged a certain amount, and then the temp, the agency took a percentage. And so if you went out on your own, you would just directly be dealing with the client.
And that you could work where you wanted to work in. Exactly. The community. That's, that's right. I'm curious, Betsy, when you were singing, cuz I don't wanna skip over it so quickly, I haven't spoken to that many former opera singers before. Were you an employee of a [00:06:00] larger organization or was that also you were sort of a freelance singer?
Most
Betsy Steward: singer solo opera singers, which is what I was are freelance. In other words, you audition for jobs and you may end up on the roster of a company. That even that is not the same as it is as getting a job and not the same as it is if you are, for instance, a member of the Boston Symphony. If you're a member of the Boston Symphony, you have a, it's a salaried position, and no matter how many concerts, if it's all that's your job singing, if they decide to do operas that suit your voice and we decide to use you, then we'll pay you.
But if we decide to do other operas that don't use your type of voice, then we're not paying you. You just have to wait around and try and get other jobs, other places, very independent. And that's what I mean that after a certain number of years, I just got, I didn't wanna do that anymore.
Laura Rotter: Yeah, it sounds stressful.
On the other hand, there is a through line you're describing of managing your own work life as [00:07:00] opposed to signing on with a company and you gotta be in at nine and you leave at five. That you've always had that creative, if you will, entrepreneurial spirit. And frankly, even becoming an opera singer to me, seems an indication of that.
And then you were ready for something else at 40 though, I have to say. Teaching computers doesn't sound quite as sexy and creative. So what?
Betsy Steward: Actually, it was very creative. I loved that part of my life. I really enjoyed working with people. And my job was to help people who were terrified of computers kinda come off the ledge.
Let me just show you how a mouse works. Let me just show you this. And they would, people to this day, I bump into people who I taught, what is this? 2022. I taught them 25 years ago. And the first thing they say, they turned to my husband and say, she taught me everything I need. I learned about computers back when I didn't know.
It really made a difference to people, and I love that. I'm grateful for.
Laura Rotter: Thank you for putting it in [00:08:00] that light. Why did you, Doing that. You said that the industry changed. How did well
Betsy Steward: changed about the time of the Y2K problem? Do you remember that? In the year two, of
Laura Rotter: course, of course everything was gonna explode and we wouldn't have access to our
Betsy Steward: money.
For any of your listen listeners who are young enough that they don't remember that they thought that the computer systems around the world were using a date system that only had two years, two digit. To represent the year, which would screw everything up when we turned to 2000, because then what year was it?
Anyway, it turned out not to be a problem, but every single one of my clients came to me that year and said, oh my gosh, we spent all of our training money on the year Y2K problem. We can't continue the training program. But about the time that I realized this is changing, I thought, well, my two options are.
Learn some program that nobody else knows and become an expert in that, or start doing this online training. And I knew that what I loved about. [00:09:00] Teaching people about computers was working with people. The computer programs themselves did not float my boat so much. So learning a new program or teaching in a vacuum where you don't even see the student, none of that interested me and that's why I ended up going in a different path and ended up in fundraising.
So
Laura Rotter: how did that evolution take
Betsy Steward: place? Again, I went to career counseling both times. I went to NYU where I had not gone, but in those days no more. But in those days, NYU had a service that you could pay, I think a hundred bucks and come into their office, take this little strong Campbell career interest test, and then you'd come back a week later and talk with a social worker who would.
Basically interpretive. And when I went back at that time, the woman said to me, if you thought about fundraising, because I think you might be good at it, and. I had not thought about it and she said, I don't wanna push NYU on you, but we do have a certificate program [00:10:00] here. I ended up with a credential and I don't think I would've gotten my first job in fundraising if I didn't have some credential.
And you can't just say, I don't have to fundraise if you have no any kind of background in it at all. So
Laura Rotter: with that certificate in hand, What was the
Betsy Steward: next step? This was a real education in networking. Do you know the organization called Association of Development Officers? ADO. I do not. In Westchester County, we have one called the Association of Development Officers, ADO, and they are a more robust group than AFP is.
So I had gotten my certificate and I was trying to find jobs and I wasn't finding anything. And they had their annual philanthropy day awards like in December of 2006, I think. And so I went to it and it was at the Crown Plaza in White Plains, and it was, and I was seated at a table all the way in the back.
My, my back was actually touching the wall , and I was sitting at a table full of people, none of whom I knew. [00:11:00] And I was sitting next to a young man and we're talking and I'm looking at him and behind him is the door to the room. And in walks this man, and I thought, I know that guy. Who's that guy? I know that guy
So that guy walks and all of a sudden junior here that I'm talking to, jumps up and goes and talks to that guy. And so when he came back and sat down, I said, who is that? And as soon as he said the name, I realized that guy had been in my classes at nyu. So I went over and reintroduced myself and he remembered me and he was a fundraising consultant and he said, so what are you doing?
And I said, I'm really looking for work. And he said, wow. I have a client who's looking to hire a development professional. Would you like to meet Cora Greenberg, who's the executive director of Westchester Children's Associate, and became my boss for 10 years.
Laura Rotter: You clearly really enjoy people. And what kind of role do you think that's played in the evolution of your
Betsy Steward: career?
Well, I definitely think that teaching [00:12:00] computers requires someone who has a kind of personality that. Inspires people to forget about being so scared about it. Trust this person to lead you through. I'm not gonna humiliate you. I'm not gonna, I'm really gonna help you do this. And I think that fundraising requires the same thing that.
If you're talking with donors, they need to trust you. And if you're talking with other staff people or board members, for instance, that was one thing that happened at Westchester Children's Association. When I first started working there. Nobody listened to anything I said. It was truly like, huh? Yeah.
Okay. When I say nobody, no board member, yes. The meetings that it was like I wasn't even in there. And after a couple of years of me implementing things, our funding started getting stronger and all of a sudden, They had a different attitude cuz you do have to prove to people that you have ideas and skills to be able to make a change.
But fundraising is a slow [00:13:00] business. It's not like you get a job and within two weeks you're bringing in millions of dollars. It doesn't even, the most experienced fundraiser will tell you to lower your expectations because it's all about relationship building. And let's say you have John d Rockefeller is the main funder.
He doesn't know you, so you have to get to know him so that then you can make the ask, and it all takes. Yes. You're
Laura Rotter: describing that building trust takes time. Can you, Betsy, talk about the role that inspiration plays in getting people to be excited about giving to your organization?
Betsy Steward: I think it's essential that you, yourself are excited about the work that the organization is doing, and I feel so strongly about that, that when I was with donors, they could see.
Yeah, it was a job, but it's not just a job for me. I really believe in this stuff, especially
Laura Rotter: when you're a director of development. It's one thing to ask people to write a check for $50 or something, but if you're working with major donors, there really has to be a belief [00:14:00] in what you, yeah. Raising money for that can be communicated and made important to the donor also.
So you've mentioned NYU as being helpful as your working life evolved, you mentioned enjoyment of people. For people who are listening to this who might also be in the midst of a life transition, are there other resources that you used or maybe. Things you did in your own life personally that helped you as you went through transitions and you went through one relatively recently.
Now that you are no longer working with Peter Heller.
Betsy Steward: So one book that I'm looking up here, cuz I think it's on my shelf. Do you know that book? What Color is Your Parachute? Of course, yes. We all, anybody my age knows that book. Yes. Cause it's not every year. I dunno if it still comes out every year, but it always, there's so much good stuff in that book.
I guess one
Laura Rotter: question I wanna make sure I ask Betsy, is how do you define [00:15:00] success? And as you look at your life, how might that definition have shift?
Betsy Steward: Over the years. I think that success for me right now would probably be defined less, certainly less based on money, and secondly, less based on other people's opinions.
When you're in the opera business, part of your life is you get reviewed, people get to write in print that you stunk or that you were great, but they get to write their opinions in print about it, and you have no rebuttal vehicle. You just have to like, oh, that's the way it's. When I was in that career, that can be very hard.
I don't know. At this point, I find myself much less judgmental towards myself, like I'm a lot more forgiving than I used to be, and I also don't look to other people so much for validation, which when you're younger, I think that's what we all do, or many of us anyway, and I don't do that.
Laura Rotter: It's one of the [00:16:00] gifts of aging.
Right. That's, it's totally a different vantage point. Yeah. It. When you get up every morning, what is it that drives you, that gets you excited to get up in the morning?
Betsy Steward: I think the difference that I can make at this point, I'm not working full-time, but I do have a handful, a small handful of clients that I work with.
I love working with them and their missions are very important to me and by have a network of people who help me when I need help, and I help them when they need help and I'm very grateful for that. And, I think you have to build that. I don't think that you should assume that will just be in place and you don't, I think you have to work at friendships the way you work at anything else.
You can't be the you. You can't be the only one who ever makes the phone call and you can't be the only one who ever receives the phone call. I totally
Laura Rotter: agree with you on that. I, having had a previous career on Wall Street and with young kids at home, I didn't have [00:17:00] a lot of time to work on friendships. My mother, thankfully, was my best friend during a lot of those years, and she aged.
I became very aware that if I wanted close friendships and people that I could call and that would feel comfortable calling me, it was. Gonna take an investment of time. And I'm happy to say that with everything else I spend time on, I'm, I really make a point of spending time on that cuz again, as we get older, we realize how, no matter how much money we have in the bank, that's not where true value is and success is, it's having real relationships.
So, Betsy, if someone were listening to this and connecting with Betsy and seeing if we could work together, how would they get in touch with you?
Betsy Steward: Oh, they are certainly welcome to email me. My email address is betsy, b e t s y v as in victory, and Steward, s t e w a r d, as in david gmail.com. Happy to talk to anybody.
In fact, I, I do a lot of that. I do a lot of just [00:18:00] talking to people about what's going on at their nonprofits. Sometimes they turn into clients more often. They don't, but it's okay because I'm fine to do
Laura Rotter: that. Is there anything else you'd like to share that I didn't ask you about before our conversation ends?
So
Betsy Steward: you asked me at the beginning about how things were in my family growing up. One thing my, one of my sisters and I talk a lot about this sort of thing, and we both realized that neither one of us has financial challenges in our lives right now. We've both gone through life and we have retirement plans set up and all of that.
I think we forever will worry about money because we worried about money as kids. And I don't know if that ever truly goes away. It's
Laura Rotter: very true. We put down the memory tracks of what it was like growing up and we never really shake that relationship. It was scarce growing up. It's hard to shake a feeling of scarcity.
And if we had plenty sometimes we're then [00:19:00] not really good stewards of our money because we still live as though we were 15 years old. Thank you so much.
Betsy Steward: Oh, my pleasure. Thank you. I really
Laura Rotter: appreciate it, Betsy, and it's so nice to see you.
Betsy Steward: And so nice to see you too. Laura. Thanks so much.
Laura Rotter: I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Betsy Steward of Betsy Steward Consulting. Some takeaways from our conversation. Number one, when considering a career change, think about what it was about your previous careers that you enjoyed. In Betsy's case, she loved working with people, and people trusted her.
She was able to bring these passions and innate skills. Into her fundraising work, take away. Number two, if you are [00:20:00] considering entering a new field, look into certificate programs or other ways of becoming credentialed. Betsy received a certificate in fundraising and she attributes her ability to land her first job to this certificate, and finally, network.
Network, network, join professional organizations in your field and attend events. It may have felt like Kismet at the time, but Betsy was very intentional about joining the Association of Development Officers in Westchester County, and she then attended their annual Philanthropy Day awards. There she met someone who was instrumental to helping her find employment in the development field.
Are you enjoying this podcast? Please don't forget to subscribe, so you [00:21:00] won't miss next week's episode. And if you loved the show, a rating and a review would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.
Betsy Steward: Thanks for listening to Making Change with your Money Certified Financial Planner, Laura Rotter specializes in
Laura Rotter: helping people just like you organize, clarify, and invest their money. In order to support a life of purpose and meaning, go to
Betsy Steward: www.trueabundanceadvisors.com/workbook
Laura Rotter: for a free resource to help you on your journey.
Disclaimer, please remember that
Betsy Steward: the information shared by this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. It's for information purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.