Welcome everyone. Welcome to the Safe Shelter Collaborative Building Your Agency's Donor Base. As we begin to get started, I just want to make sure I thank everyone for attending today. My name is Susan Hope Bard, and I'll be facilitating our webinar today. We do want this presentation to be relevant to the very important work that you do in your agencies. So I want to thank you in advance for answering our survey at the end of the webinar, so we can continue to develop content just like this to continue to meet your agency's needs. As I walk through our platform, I do want to give a shout out to everybody that's joining us. If you could, please chat in where you are joining us from, your city and state, because I know we have invited a lot of folks from around the country. So go ahead and give us a shout out where you're from. I am sitting here with some of your Safe Shelter Collaborative Support staff here in beautiful San Francisco. It's a little overcast today and a little drizzly, so I'm wearing a sweater, but it's been pretty sunny the rest of the week. I am going to go ahead and talk to you a little bit about the platform that we're using today for this webinar in case anyone's not familiar with it. I want you to be comfortable using the platform. There is a chat box at the bottom left-hand corner of your screen, so what we want you to do at any time at all, chat us to let us know if you're having any problems viewing or hearing the audio. The chat box is also for your questions, so if Michael or Lee are two amazing presenters are talking and you want to ask a question, don't wait until the Q&A section. You can go ahead and chat it in at any time. If you lose your Internet connection, you can reconnect using the link in your registration or the reminder email that we sent out about an hour ago. And if you registered more than about an hour ago, you can also access the presentation slide deck that we sent with the reminder email. Keep in mind that this session is going to be recorded and you'll be able to access this afterwards. If you're hearing an echo through your computer speakers or having any issues with audio, you can dial in using that toll-free number that we supplied. You are being recorded, so why we mute all of the phones except for the presenters is so that we can get a good clear recording without any background distractions. The recording will be available for you in a few days. We will notify you by email when the recording is available for viewing. And the great news is all of the amazing resources that Michael and Lee have put together will be contained in that email. So we will have links to these great articles, some sample templates that Lee has given us. So you will be able to access all of this for your use and your agency. All right, I see lots of folks chatting in where they are from. Go ahead and let us know. Someone Denise here from California as well, great. The rest of you go ahead and give us a shout out in the chat box where you are joining us from, your city and state. And as you do that, let me introduce our speakers, our presenters today. We are very fortunate to have these two volunteer presenters. The first is Michael Stein. Michael has been a writer and digital strategist to progressive social causes for over two decades. He has the author of three books and has numerous articles chronicling the rise of digital marketing, mobile, and online fundraising. He also has a lot of articles about building donor support and fundraising which are featured on our TechSoup website and will supply you with links to those articles. He works as a consultant and coach to nonprofits, foundations, and educators with a focus on marketing and fundraising in a multi-channel and multi-screen world. You can find him on Twitter at Mstein63. Also joining us today is Lee, the development director at Mosaic Family Services Incorporated in Dallas, Texas. Lee has a passion for working with various nonprofits and NGOs to strengthen communities, advance social justice, and to overall provide a positive impact on the world. She has a diversified skill set involving her social work background and fundraising experience. She has a bachelor's of social work degree and a master of social work degree with a specialization in children and families and intimate partner violence from Baylor University. Her undertakings with Family Abuse Center, reading partners, and communities in schools have provided her with a unique look at working with vulnerable, oppressed, and discriminated populations. And in 2015, Lee received the Heartbeat Award from the United Way of the Metropolitan Dallas. Also joining us is Su Lan Chang, the assistant director of Family Violence and Human Trafficking at Mosaic Family Services. And she will be helping to answer some of our agency's questions. And I'm at the bottom there. I'm just going to be your facilitator. I work here at TechSoup and Caravan as the training and education manager. And even more importantly, on our back end here supporting this webinar and supporting the Safe Shelter Collaborative are Ricky Abisla with Caravan Studios and Sarah Washburn also with Caravan Studios. And helping with all of the technical challenges or any difficulties you have is Tiffany Meyers. So when you chat to folks, that's who will be responding to our support team. So we want to thank you very much for joining us again. So I'm going to talk for a few seconds about the Safe Shelter Collaborative. The Safe Shelter Collaborative is developed jointly by Polaris and Caravan Studios, which is a division of TechSoup here in San Francisco. The collaborative is a growing, community-based network of nonprofits, funders, government agencies, and individual donors that's designed to provide faster access to more shelter for a greater diversity and number of survivors of human trafficking. And for those of you who may wonder, well what does the Safe Shelter Collaborative do? There are three main parts. The first is the Safe Shelter Collaborative increases the capacity of organizations like you to offer survivor-centered trauma-informed care to human trafficking survivors. And we also provide technology to maximize the ability to find available and appropriate shelter space. And in fact, agencies that were using our technology, specifically Safe Night, influenced the creation of this webinar today. So your feedback to us helped us determine content of this webinar so we could assist you in continuing to achieve your mission. And then lastly, the Safe Shelter Collaborative offers a means to source funding for a hotel room when that is an appropriate and safe option for the survivor. As I mentioned, it was built by Caravan and Polaris. And here are some of our funders. I have two more short things to chat out to you that I'm going to need you to participate in. We have two live polls. In order for us to get a better idea of the agencies that are on this webinar today, we're going to ask you two questions. So what you're going to do is in the webinar right now you'll see there's a choice. Is your agency an active Safe Shelter Collaborative member? Yes. No, but I want to know more, or you're not sure. Go ahead and click on the response that best reflects your agency's situation. And I will give you a few seconds to do that. And then I'm going to count down five more seconds. Four, three, two, one. Great.  Thank you. And those of you who aren't, we will reach out to you after this webinar and we'll be able to connect with you directly. One more quick question before I turn it over to Michael. And this one is, how many addresses does your agency have representing your constituent database? So think about this. And you may not know the answer and that's okay. So do you have less than 100 email addresses? 100 to 200, 201 to 5, more than 5, or you just may be unsure. So take a moment. I'll leave the poll open for you to select. I'll wait for a few more responses. Five, four, three, two, one. Okay, great. And that's perfectly fine if you're unsure because Michael is going to be addressing some of this when he talks about developing and sustaining your donor base. But we just wanted to have an idea of what that range was. So great. Thank you so much for answering those questions. And without further ado, I am going to turn this over to Michael Stein. And he will begin talking about building and nurturing an active donor base. So please join me in welcoming Michael. Michael, the floor is yours. The virtual floor. Thank you so much, Susan. And thanks everybody for inviting me to join today. Susan asked me to talk about building and nurturing an active donor base and really to talk in a fairly general way about how to grow your donor relationship and your donor prospects. And let me actually go to my little slides. I forgot to do that. My apologies. Let me see here. Do I have to close the poll? Oh, there it is. Okay, sorry. Thank you, Susan, for learning how to use the little things here. Okay, great. So let me just quickly jump to – so what I'd like to cover today is basically the whole donor development process in the 15 minutes that we have. So I'll be covering – and I just want to quickly cover the different pieces of the puzzle that I'll be talking about. So for starters, we're going to be talking about the importance of growing your list, which is why we sent out that little poll earlier to ask about the size of your list. We're then going to talk about the process of cultivating and engaging year-round with all of your different constituents, whether they're volunteers or subscribers or followers or donors. Then I'm going to talk about the importance of the different types of giving opportunities that should be placed in front of people, both online and offline, to develop the donor base. And then I will wrap up talking a little bit about the importance of developing what I'm calling a culture of welcoming donors, thanking them, and acknowledging them. So this was just a quick little agenda of what I'm going to be talking about in the next 15 minutes. And there should be plenty of time at the end if you have questions. And of course, you can ask things in the chat throughout the whole hour. And I'm happy also to respond separately with email exchanges or whatever works for folks. So let me start out by talking about the donor prospecting process. And I think this is really just such an important piece of the puzzle. I mean the basic philosophy is that to develop a donor base at the core, what you have to do is you have to grow your list of prospects. And so organizations often say to me, gee, Michael, that sounds great, but I just don't really know where to start, or I only have 500 names, or we're an agency that's just beginning, or the names are really old, and we get a lot of bounces and all this kind of stuff. And so I think what I tell people is that the donor prospecting process is something that happens all year round and all the time, and that you have to tackle it in a couple of different ways. And so I put a list up here on the screen of my favorite six ways to grow your list. So I think obviously encouraging people that are coming to your website to leave their email address because they're either going to get an email newsletter or they want to stay connected to your work. So that's one of the most important sort of prospecting mechanisms. I mean I think most people know that when they leave their email address that you may be asking them eventually for money, but oftentimes people are just genuinely interested in learning about you, keeping in touch with you. So that's really an important place to start. I know that I've looked at most of your websites, and pretty much all of you have that, but I saw many of your websites that didn't have a place for people to leave their email address. Obviously people that attend any of your real world events, whether they're a gala or an event you're doing in the community, or whatever that may be, just so important to have sign up boards, sign up sheets, and that kind of stuff. Another place of course is trying basically to get any information for people who've used the Safe Night app. I'll talk about that a little bit more in a couple of minutes. Obviously followers on social media, you obviously want to get people to like you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter or other platforms, but also you can ask people in those channels to leave you the email address. So any way that you can prospect over there. Also your volunteers are incredibly important members of your community, and so they also constitute kind of a prospect pool. And also they have many friends and family members and others that you can connect with through them. And then of course your board members who are some of your most important volunteers. And I think they also constitute either themselves a type of donor prospect, or they can be terrific to help reach out and reach other people and add them to your list and that kind of stuff. I've seen people do some fun stuff like while they're designating like one month of the year as let's build our prospect list as big as possible and kind of do a little bit of a friendly competition among board members and volunteers and others to see who can help add 10, 20, 50, 100 email addresses or mailing addresses to the file. So you have to kind of make it a little bit fun but really think about it doing it all the time. And last but not least, business and corporate partners, I know many of you have those kinds of relationships and many businesses and corporate partners are often really excited to help build your file. And so teaming up with them to send a message to their employees or to maybe doing something at an event they're doing. So these are all the different pieces of the puzzle that I think play into the list-growing process. You can also do list exchanges with other like-minded organizations. If you have a little bit of budget, you can approach publishers like Mother Jones or Alternate and they can send, for a fee, they'll often send a message on your behalf to their readers and subscribers. So there are definitely other options. But everything that's on this list right here on the screen is basically free. So the donor prospecting process is just so important and important to do all year round. Click to the next one. Great. Another piece of the puzzle of nurturing an active donor base is really the cultivation and engagement process. And I've been on many of your Facebook pages and some of your YouTube pages and others, and I can see that you all do such an incredible job telling the stories about the work that you're doing in the community. And so just from the vantage point of nurturing a donor base, it's just those stories are just so important to reinforce how donor support really makes a difference. And so I just want to encourage everyone to keep doing that and always to be mindful that every time you take the effort to find a photograph or to get a quote from someone or to tell the story or to make a video, each one of those adds up and it's just so important in connecting with donors. And hence the term donor-centric language is always being thoughtful of just not writing from the first person, like, we've done this, we helped this person, but really reframing it is like with the support from our donors, we are able to do X or we're able to do Y and really being mindful that it's the donor that enables all these programs to happen. Obviously sending email updates and sending email newsletters is another critical part of that cultivation engagement that you're doing. Some of you may have print newsletters or print mailings that go out as well. All of those are going to add up. Another one that I want to mention here is creating an email welcome series for new subscribers. It's just so important for the folks who are first joining with you. They're already in the community. They find out about your organization. They pass through their mailing address or their email address. It's just so important to connect with them immediately in this kind of cultivation mode and to thank them for getting closer to you. And here's what we want to do together. There's volunteer opportunities. There'll be donor opportunities and really just open the door for them as much as you possibly can. And of course, the cultivation engagement can also happen through all the channels that you're disposing. I spent like half a day the other day just perusing through Facebook pages which is really such a rich medium to find photographs and stories and links and hashtags and everything else. It's just becoming such a rich place. I've seen so many creative uses of social media, for example, in thanking specific donors for making certain gifts or getting people excited about a fundraising campaign that might be coming up or showing how a campaign is being enabled by a certain donor or group of donors or funder but really just trying to find creative ways to be involved on social media and really to find a positive donor language and a positive donor kind of storytelling that you can do really pretty much all year round. Tony, there's one little example here from the Larkin Street Youth Services. Sorry, it's a little bit small on the screen, but I'm sure you can find that pretty easily on social media that talked about what some gift from a donor had enabled and I thought that was just a terrific example. And then of course, I'm sure many of you are doing print mailings, you're doing telephone calls in person events. All of those contribute to developing an active donor base and sometimes as with telephone calls or print materials you're not always soliciting money, you are giving people updates on what their support is enabling. And it's just so important to connect with them in as many different types of channels that are available to you. Great. I just wanted to quickly share, we're going to talk about giving opportunities and then I'll wrap up my portion, but I just wanted to show this famous kind of ladder of donor engagement sometimes called a pyramid. And I think it's just a really helpful way also to visualize kind of the building of the donor base process. So kind of at the bottom of this pyramid you have kind of this universe of prospects, you're building your list, you're getting people onto your file, you're collecting as many people to be in touch with. And then as you kind of move people up the proverbial pyramid or up the ladder of engagement, your first task is to get people to become a first-time donor either on the phone or email or door-to-door contact. And then your next challenge in the green slide is to get people to make a second gift or to upgrade to a larger gift or to become like a monthly donor. So really just pushing them up another level. And then of course the last few stages could be pushing them into even more special donor groupings, people making more sizable gifts or people getting excited about some of your capital campaigns, or people leaving bequests and all that kind of stuff. But I know that for a lot of organizations most of the work really happens in those first three tiers, building your prospect list, getting first-time gifts, and then getting renewals or upgrades. So just three or four minutes on this, and then I'll kind of wrap up. So I think the next important piece of the puzzle in building the donor base is really just creating giving opportunities. And this is really where it comes down to how do you engage all these people on your list to make gifts, how to get people to make another gift, how to get people to upgrade, and really focusing your efforts on creating these seasonal fundraising campaigns. There are so many opportunities during the year that you can take advantage of. We're of course approaching domestic violence awareness month. We've got Giving Tuesday and Year End Times. And I think each organization kind of develops sort of a technique for creating these giving opportunities. It's really interesting to see how different organizations do this. I mean obviously the Year End is the most common time, but the challenge I think is finding other times in the year when you can build seasonal campaigns and get your supporters and donors excited about, oh, I'm going to contribute to this annual fund again this year because it was so successful last year. Or yes, gosh, it's domestic violence awareness month. That's a really important time of the year for us. For me, I want to kind of be part of that. So just so important to craft these seasonal fundraising campaigns. Or sometimes the campaigns can be urgent in nature, which is always unfortunate that you have to raise money for something urgent. But that can also fit into the mix. Hey, we have an urgent situation here in our city or in our state. Can you help us out? And I think these engagement techniques that I've listed here are really some of the key things to think about that will help to make these giving opportunities come to life. And you're probably familiar with most of these. So a matching gift, one of your board members is going to double the gifts if you give by Sunday or by the end of the month, creating deadlines. We really sure need the money so that we can do X or Y. Or monthly giving is also important. People sometimes aren't able to give gifts of $100 to $200 at one time, but they might be willing to give $5 or $10 a month over a long time. So matching gift deadlines and monthly giving are engagement techniques that are just so critical to really develop a donor base. And then of course on your website using any kind of technique that you can to get people to the donation page, you might have everything from a video that draws people in, the donation page itself. You can craft different kinds of options there for giving legacy gifts, one-time gifts, all that kind of good stuff. And then of course, doing as much promotion as you can on your social media channels. And really kind of blending all of these together, testing different techniques at different times of the year, and seeing what is going to work best for your constituency. And I'll just end with a couple final things and then I'll open it up for questions and we'll pass it on. So I think the top thing that I usually suggest that people do is really spending time focusing as much as possible on acquiring the first-time donors because that's just usually the hardest kind of piece of the puzzle. So you have your prospect pool. And then trying to think of some creative way that what gets people in the door to make a first gift? Is it a small amount of $10? Is it a monthly gift of $5 a month? Hey, make a gift and we'll send you a calendar or some kind of a premium that makes you excited, something you'd wear, a t-shirt to show your connection to the work. Another one that I'm really interested in exploring and discussing with everybody here is how to also explore deeper engagement with the Safe Night app donors. And I asked Susan actually before the call if folks actually had access to emails of people who have downloaded the Safe Night app or made donations through the Safe Night app to fund, you know, hotel stays. And I think there's something really interesting in there. Obviously if someone has already made a donation to fund a hotel room through the app, they're already a donor. And so they've already kind of indicated their interest in the cause and in your work of your agency. And so I think there's some interesting opportunities in there perhaps to send follow-up emails, to get people excited maybe to make a follow-up gift or to become a monthly donor. They might not be able to always support Safe Night app requests but maybe they'd be willing to continue on with the process of developing into a stronger donor for you. Thinking multi-channel, I mean just so important to not just think online and also not to just think real world or direct mail but really just try to consider any donor that you work with or a prospect that you should try to stay in touch with them through as many channels as you possibly can. So if you do have their mailing address, you should be contacting them that way. If you have their email, you should do that. And really when you are able to communicate in a multi-channel way definitely improves your ability to raise money from folks. Yes, very important to be concerned about donor burnout. I think every organization has to use their own judgment to think about what's the right amount of messaging. And you don't have to send fundraising appeals to everyone all the time and really being kind of thoughtful about really how to segment your donor audience and how you might talk to them differently at different times of the year. And then again just recapping the importance of the donor-centric messaging and really finding a language, finding a voice that makes people feel really comfortable becoming a donor and not being stigmatized or either not being a donor but really sort of treating everyone as part of the same adventure that you are on to support people in the community. And just being excited that donors are willing to step forward and take an extra step. I will pause there because I'm looking at my clock and I'm at 18 minutes. That's great, Michael. You've shared a tremendous amount of information. And we do have a couple of questions. One's related to a topic you just touched on. Donor Burnout, do you have any recommendations for our agency in terms of, you mentioned it's highly individualized by agency by agency, but are there any best practices to kind of follow in terms of outreach and burnout? Maybe one thing that I'll mention, I think one thing about burnout is really to create a balance between the amount of kind of cultivation you're doing with donors and the amount of fundraising appeals. You should never be asking more than you're giving to people and really just creating that balance. When I look at someone's fundraising program I say, how many fundraising appeals did you send out last year combining telephone mail and email? And they'll say, well, I don't know, it was 8 or something. I made that number up. And I'll say, well, how many cultivation touches did you have that were not fundraising related? And in my book, the fundraising shouldn't overwhelm the cultivation stuff. They should either be in balance or there should be more cultivation than fundraising. So that's sort of like my kind of rule of thumb kind of approach to it. But it is, to some extent, you have to be a little bit thoughtful, and I think each organization has to sort of throttle the amount of fundraising that's appropriate for different times of the year. But there are some organizations that raise 80% of their funds in December, which kind of boggles the mind. But there could be other months of the year where you could spend some time trying to focus maybe on one month, a month of October or the month of April to try to spread it out a little bit. Anyway, that's my quick response to that, Susan. Thank you. Thank you. And one other question. You mentioned something about first-time donors and many of our agencies. And Lee will address this shortly about how they developed, sustained, and built their donor base. But what about trying to get to those first-time donors? How do you reach the folks, the non-traditional donors, to get them to become a first-time donor? What do you mean by non-traditional donors? I'm sorry. I think what I mean is the person or perhaps how do you reach out to someone or to an audience that you may not have tapped before? It kind of goes hand-in-hand with the burnout. Yeah. Well, I think it comes back to that first slide when we were talking about donor prospecting. And I really think that it kind of all, let me bring that slide back, I think it all kind of starts there. Let me see if I can get it to come back. I mean, I think if you're going to reach non-traditional people, or if you're going to expand your audience, it's going to start here. It's going to start with how creative can you be to go out into the community and to the larger space and try to connect with people. Is it going to be through some of your board members, maybe some of your business partners, etc., or through an event you're holding, or through some partnership you have with a publishing agency? So it's really here that it's going to happen. It's going to be in that kind of prospecting process, which again is going to happen all year round. You can partner with different people to try different things, but this is where it's going to start right here. Got it. Thank you so much. And I'm sure we'll have more questions as we move forward with Lee's presentation. Our next presenter is Lee from Mosaic Family Services. And before I turn it over to her, I just want to also mention that we have Sulan on the back end who is also here to answer your questions. So Lee, go ahead and take it away. Okay, can everyone hear me okay? You are perfect. Perfect. Okay, great. Well, I am so excited to be with you all today. My name is Lee, and I'm the Development Director for Mosaic. I oversee all our fundraising and communication efforts to maintain and develop our budget. And Sulan, who's also on the call, is our Assistant Director of Family Violence and Human Trafficking. So she coordinates really anything within our program so you name it. She wears a lot of hats. And she also coordinates all the logistics for safe night and how we use it. She'll be available at the end if anyone has any specific questions related to how we use safe nights with our clients. So first, I just wanted to take a couple minutes to briefly go over our services at Mosaic. I think this will give you a better understanding of how we've chosen our criteria for using safe night with our hotline callers and how this all relates to our donors. Mosaic is a safe haven for survivors of human rights abuses, including refugees and survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. We also provide comprehensive and culturally competent services to all our survivors in one place. So this includes shelter, counseling, case management, legal representation, and support services in more than 30 languages. Our shelter, which we call Mosaic House, can hold up to 46 women and children at any time. We have 10 bedrooms just to give you some general statistics of the clients that we've served in our shelter over the last few years. In 2014, we served 198 clients. In 2015, we served 278 clients. And lastly, as we wrap up fiscal year 16 this month, we project to have served approximately 300 survivors this year. So those numbers are strictly just for clients who have lived in our shelter. And as you can tell, even though those numbers are pretty large for all of Dallas, which is where Mosaic is located, it really isn't that big. And I will go into that later on as we continue with this. So when we first heard about Safe Night, our team was very excited about the resources that it could help us provide for all our clients. One of the biggest things that we've always locked here is our ability to provide emergency hotel stays for clients, especially since we can only hold 46 clients in our shelter. Every month, we are constantly turning away several different clients who need the help, but we just didn't have either the space or the funds to put them in emergency hotels. So we really wanted to figure out how we could use Safe Night to provide this as a resource for some of our clients. Naturally, and I'm sure just like everyone else on this call, we had several hesitations. And I just want to go ahead and list a few of them. So some of the initial hesitations we had when we first found out about Safe Night was we have a small donor base. So we already feel like we overuse them. How do we avoid burning out our donors with Safe Night if we're continuing to ask for more funds? Other questions involved, how does it work? What staff would be in charge of it? What criteria will we use to determine which clients are receiving the hotel funding? How do we determine that criteria? Where do we even get the funds to cover hotel beds while we wait to get reimbursed? And how do we even pay for this up front? So one of our biggest hesitations we were concerned about with Safe Night was burning out our donors. And initially when we thought that the app was great and we were so excited to use it since our clients are always in need of shelter and hotel beds, however, we already felt like we asked our donors for so much all the time. We always have some campaign going on or some need or some event going on. So in order for us to use Safe Night to meet the needs of our clients and the community as well as avoid burning out our donors, we established a strict internal criteria for which clients we use Safe Night funds with. So some of our examples of our eligibility criteria include we wanted to ensure that the clients we were funding met our shelter eligibility criteria. We wanted to ensure of course that they were actually a domestic violence survivor, that they were fleeing immediate danger and or living in an unstable situation, and lastly that space would be available at our shelter within a week or they were male survivors. And so also we also established criteria, specific criteria for the hotels we are using. So this included of course we wanted to put our clients in decent hotels and we all know that the decent hotels cost more money. So we also wanted to value a family size. So if we had a large family we didn't want to stick them in a one-bedroom hotel. We also wanted to include any special requests coming from the clients or maybe the proximity of the hotel. So maybe the client was looking for a hotel that was near his or her work or near his or her school. So we wanted to take that into factor. And lastly one other thing that we had to think about is that whenever we're working with hotels, hotels that allow third-party payments end up costing more money. So for all of these factors we decided for us in terms of asking our donors for funds to cover these is we wanted to break up our requests into smaller increments. So appeal to donors. So on the Safe Night app it only allows donors to donate the amount that you request. So for instance an average hotel in Dallas would cost $100. Well instead of us just sending out a request for $100 instead we would send out two $50 Safe Night requests. Or maybe even I think when we first started Safe Night we were unsure if someone would even spend $50 for us. So we ended up sending out 33 dollar requests. So we definitely wanted to break our hotel requests into smaller increments so appeal to donors. And also that way we don't burn out our donors. I think our rationale behind that is for a lot of people they want to help and they want to help survivors get back on their feet. But someone may not feel comfortable spending even $150 on a hotel. However especially when you're trying to appeal to new donors they would feel comfortable donating to smaller requests. So here are some general statistics about Dallas and Mosaic and what we see here. So in 2014 and 2015 7,567 victims were turned away in Dallas due to a lack of resources. Mosaic is currently just wrapped up our first year with Safe Night. And we have 102 donors registered on Safe Night for Mosaic. And each month we have turned away approximately 50 hotline calls. So that includes 50 families that were turning away each month due to a lack of resources or lack of space. And in the last year we've used Safe Night 22 times to request hotel funding. Again, I do want to emphasize that this has been a kind of a trial phase for Mosaic the first year just because we really didn't know what to expect or how our donors would perceive helping us out. And so we definitely will moving forward continue to use Safe Night more especially because there are over 7,000 victims in Dallas who need help and need shelter resources. So what makes us successful? The next few slides I'm going to go into will give you tips on how to engage your donors as well as appreciate your donors and even recruit more donors. So I do want to note that our Safe Night requests are usually funded within an hour, sometimes in 10 minutes. It really just depends. So one of the big things that we try to encourage all our staff to do is to talk about Safe Night during any outreach opportunity, during site visits with funders, during board meetings, and to all your donors and volunteers, and also to help donors download it when you're with them. So this is a picture of us helping one of our donors download the app while they're sitting at our shelter. This actually for us comes very naturally because we have found that when we are giving donors a tour of our shelter that one of the big questions that always comes up is what do you guys do whenever you're full? Do you turn people away? Do you have a waiting list? And that is our segue, our moment to turn it over to Safe Night and to introduce the app and tell them about it. We also have a page on our website just solely dedicated to Safe Night. And here is a screenshot of what our website looks like. So you can go to mosaic-services.org backslash-safe-night. And it gives you not only just what Safe Night is, but it also gives you statistics. It gives you an example of how you can help. It gives you a direct link for you to download the app. So we've included a direct link for Apple users and also for Android users. And then we've also, as you can tell, have put up specific instructions on how to select mosaic. And just again, simple information to help donors have a clear idea of what Safe Night is, how to use it, and how we use it. We also include Safe Night in our newsletters. So you can tell this is also a screenshot of a newsletter we sent out over the past year where on the sidebar it gives an example again of statistics, how you can help, and what Safe Night is. Again, in this we've also included a direct link in our newsletter so that way people can easily download the app without having to go and search for it in their app store. We also use Safe Night on Twitter and social media, all our social media channels. So this is an example of something we've tweeted out, a couple of tweets last year on what Safe Night is and how to use it. The first tweet also recognizes that whenever we sent out our first request it was fulfilled within the first two minutes. So that's another key thing. One thing that we're big on is we never want to release, especially in a specific tweet or specific Facebook post, we very rarely will recognize a donor in it just because of confidentiality. But we did, in case that donor is following us on Twitter, we did want to acknowledge that we received their donation. Here is two screenshots of two Facebook posts that we've put out about Safe Night. The one on the left is actually the first Facebook post we ever put about Safe Night, again showing a clear example of how to download it and what it is. On your right it recognizes that donor who provided the donation within that first two minutes. It also happened to be the same month as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so it was a great way for us to also include that in our social media campaign. Lastly, I want to show you guys some statistics of our Safe Night donors. Surprisingly, 76% of our Safe Night donors are new donors. These are people who have never done any work with Mosaic before and who currently were not on our donor list. And 24% of those people were reoccurring donors. Now of course we did have a lot of pitfalls and concerns with downloading Safe Night, so I've already gone over burning out donors. That is something especially in year one where we wanted to avoid which is why we only sent out 22 requests this past year just because again we were unsure of how our donors would perceive it. The scary thing with Safe Night is that the agency pays up front. So we knew how we work is we tell the clients up front that we will go ahead and let them stay in a hotel for either one or two nights max unless more funding comes in. And so that was the hard part for us is we had to find funds and resources to pay for up front and it just really is never guaranteed whether or not a donor will come in. And then also we have a very small budget for emergency assistance. And this not only includes just hotel stays but also whether a client needs bus passes, emergency transportation, prescription medication, any of those items. So we wanted to just make sure that we were being realistic with everything. And then I also want to give you some examples on how you can recognize your donors. One of our big things is storytelling. In Michael's one of his slides he had a screenshot of one of our Facebook posts that we actually did last week for us to just do storytelling. I think for donors donors are usually happy to help and want to help us in any way we can. But when you put a story with what they've done and when you can trigger that emotional response from your donors they're more likely to continue donating and staying on your donor list than just being a one-time donor. So this is just an example of something that we've sent out to our donors before. And here's a photo of a client that we have included in one of our newsletters. Again, this goes along with storytelling. Photos and explaining some type of story or background about a client is always going to be more compelling than just sending a general thank you to someone. We also recognize our donors in our annual reports. So this is a screenshot of a few of our donors that we have recognized in our most recent annual report. So again, I highly encourage recognizing donors any way you can, whether it's an email, a newsletter, social media, annual report. The more you recognize your donors and the more you make them feel valued and appreciated the more they're willing to return and donate again. This is a screenshot of an email that Su-Lan on our team has actually sent directly to a donor. To be honest, we just have a template that we send out to all our donors and we copy and paste every time we get a new Safe Night donation. I sent that over to Susan and she is going to actually email that out to everyone so that way in case you guys would like to use the same template or even change up the wording a little bit, you guys are more than welcome to. But we try to send this immediately after someone makes a donation so that way not only are they being recognized but they also are getting that fast, quick response. And that's it for my end. That was fabulously. That was amazing. Thank you so much. What a great illumination on some of the things that Michael touched on earlier in a general sense. You made all of this very specific to our agencies and meaningful to all of the agencies on the call right now. It is important we have plenty of time for Michael and Lee and Su-Lan to answer your questions. I want everyone to feel free to chat those into the chat box and also to reinforce to you that we have curated a lot of resources for you that you will get in an email. Michael has more than 10 articles that we have about fundraising and donor development on TechSoup's website, and we will be giving folks links to those so they can continue to look at those throughout the year for tips and tricks. And Lee has provided us, and we do have some questions, Lee has provided us with a lot of resources as well which we will also include in that follow-up email including that template that you can use or modify for your own agency. So here is a question, have safe night donors ever converted into regular donors or vice versa? So Lee and Su-Lan, either one of you, if you know the answer to this or could address that, that would be fabulous. Yeah, so we take all of the email addresses from our donors on safe night, and we actually put them into our donor tracking system as well as our newsletter.  I will be honest, not 100% of them have continued to donate outside of safe night, but a lot of them have responded really well to our newsletters and invitations we sent them. That's a great question. Great, thanks. Hi, this is Su-Lan. Hi everybody. I just wanted to add, this isn't something additional, but I wanted to point out that even if they don't convert into regular donors, we have consistent donors who continue to donate on safe night even if they never become a donor in any other aspect with our agency. Thank you. Thanks for jumping in and sharing that. What types of seasonal fundraising opportunities does Mosaic employ? Su-Lan or Lee? So most of our fundraising, which in this might be the same for a lot of you, but we do a lot of our fundraising really from August to December. So that's kind of like our main primetime fundraising season. Every year we host an annual gala that also includes a silent auction in a casino where we are able to raise extra funds off that. We also do a holiday campaign every year from November to the end of the year. And then also one of the big things in the North Texas area is we do a giving day. So instead of us participating in something like Giving Tuesday, we have a giving day specifically for North Texas called North Texas Giving Day where we have a foundation that will amplify some of our funds. So that's kind of like our prime fundraising. Thank you. And we had a comment that I just chatted out to everyone from Stella. She uses an analogy how currently during the election season political parties are doing this, just asking for $5 or for $10. So she comments that it's very clever of you to do this and bring it into the nonprofit world. So thank you. And we still have opportunities for more questions. Does Mosaic participate in Giving Tuesday? Good question. Thank you. No, we do not participate in Giving Tuesday. Our reason for that is a couple of years ago we actually tried, and believe it or not we got $0 on Giving Tuesday, which is actually quite embarrassing, but we actually realized that just the timing with everything, we were really burning out our donors and asking them for way too much in a very little time. So that was one thing that we decided to take away from our fundraising plan. Thank you. And thank you for your honesty, because I think all the other agencies on this call and that will listen to this recording will appreciate that. And I think you and I had talked about this, and Michael and I had talked about this, that sometimes when we have fundraising events or opportunities, sometimes they're not always successful. And we can often learn from our mistakes just as well as we can learn from our successes. So the Safe Shelter Collaborative, which is the SSC, we often just say SSC, but the Safe Shelter Collaborative wants all of our agencies to know that we're going to try to give you some background and some best practices from Lee and Michael, but sometimes that you may not always succeed the first time. And don't worry about that. You should share that with the rest of the agencies so we can learn from your example. Another quick question is, does Mosaic have recurring monthly donors? Do you have a mechanism for that, Sue Lannan Lee? Yes, we have a few. We definitely, that is something that we want to start rolling out and putting a lot of emphasis on in 2017. We just signed a contract with a fundraising platform called Classy, which allows us to maintain and recruit new monthly recurring donors, which we're really excited about. We've already actually had a few people sign up to do those donations even though we haven't started promoting it yet. So it just gives you the back-end technology and tools to be able to set this up in an easy way instead of us going in manually and charging someone's card every month. Great. Thank you. So another question we have is, do you incorporate safe night into your domestic violence awareness activities? Because I know I mentioned that the SSC or the Safe Shelter Collaborative is for the survivors of human trafficking, but it's also for the survivors of domestic violence. Sorry, Lee, do you incorporate safe night into your domestic violence awareness activities? Yes. Sorry, I wasn't sure if you were specifically wanting someone to answer. Yes, we do. We do a lot of outreach in different activities throughout the year, but especially in October just for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. And so again, that's one of the things that comes naturally to us that we talk about safe night anytime anyone asks, you know, what do you do whenever your shelter is full or whenever you run out of funds? So that's something we always bring up. We also have developed outreach materials specifically for safe night that has Safe Night's logo and the instructions on how to download it, but also Mosaic's logo on it as well to help promote us and to ensure that they sign up for us. Great. Thank you. And we are almost at the top of the hour, so we are going to be wrapping this up. I do want to make sure folks that have questions can continue to chat those while I do a little wrap up so we can still engage. I'll give you one more opportunity to ask those burning questions. But as I mentioned before, we have an enormously compassionate and capable support team here, and they are happy to hear from you. And we have some resources. We have caller text<PHONE_NUMBER>. You can also email us or visit us online. We do wish to continue to develop content that will be meaningful to you as agencies, whether you are a member of the Safe Shelter Collaborative or not, we want to be there to support you. So it is important that you take maybe 30 seconds at the end of this presentation when you X out of this, or when we shut this down, or you close out, you are going to get a survey. The survey has an opportunity for you to write as much or as little as you like. There are a couple of questions we will also ask you. Please do take this. It is optional, but we want to encourage you to do that so we can get better at doing this. And we can engage with folks like Lee and Michael are amazing presenters more regularly and build content for you. So with that, I would like to actually place a very sincere thank you to Michael and Lee. The time they have dedicated to spend with me in developing their presentations and honing them so it would be meaningful to you is significant, and they are both volunteers. So Caravan, the studios and techs, it really appreciates you Michael and Lee. Thank you so, so much. And I also wish to give a huge shout out to Sun Lan. She is incredible. She does a lot of things. So I thank you so much for being on the call today to answer the questions and provide back-end support. Thank you. Can I actually say one last thing before? Absolutely. I know I didn't talk very much, so I apologize for jumping in here at the last minute, but I just wanted to say Lee had mentioned a lot of our initial hesitations, and I'm sure a lot of you guys, if you guys aren't using Safe Shelter Collaborative, may have hesitations. I just want to say that it is worth the time and effort it takes to incorporate the Safe Shelter Collaborative, incorporate Safe Night, and working out everything because we've been able to not only gain new donors, but we've also been able to provide a service that we've never been able to provide before. And it seemed like we had a lot of hesitations in the beginning, but it was all pretty relatively easy to figure out. And so I just wanted to really push out there that if anyone isn't sure, we're more than happy. Feel free to touch base with us after this presentation. We're more than happy to help answer any other questions, but it's really changed the way that we've been able to do any kind of emergency funding and be able to have a new way of gaining new donors. So I think it's pretty incredible. Thank you. Thank you for adding that. That's nice of you to say. And we appreciate that feedback because we're always trying to get better. That's our goal is to serve your mission, help you serve your mission. So thank you. And just lastly, a big thank you to Ricky and Tiffany and Sarah from Caravan on the back end for chatting things out and prompting your questions.  So if you do have any last-minute questions, please plug those in there. Michael and Lee, we will be sharing an email that will have their email addresses as well so you can connect with them. And thank you for your time. I know the most valuable thing many of you can give us is your time. So I really sincerely appreciate that. And we want you to have a great weekend. Thank you. Goodbye.


Item number SCP-034 Object Class Safe Special Containment Procedures SCP-034 is to be kept in a secure room with access granted only to level 4 personnel. SCP-034 itself will be kept in a locked case that is under 24-hour surveillance. When not in lab conditions, SCP-034's protective sheath cannot be removed under any circumstances. Any personnel in contact with SCP-034 must be placed under a 24-hour observation period until their identities can be confirmed. Description SCP-034 is a primitive knife constructed out of pure obsidian. Tests reveal that SCP-034 is approximately 1,000 years old. Despite its crude method of construction in age, SCP-034 is still incredibly sharp and requires no maintenance to retain its edge. Expert analysis hypothesizes that SCP-034 may be of South American origin, and that it may have been used in Native American rituals. Several accounts from Spanish conquistadors exploring the region support this hypothesis, with detailed writings on how priests would flay their victims alive with similar knives and wear their skin as a tribute to their gods. SCP-034 is the ability to allow its bearer to take on the appearance of another individual. If SCP-034 is used to cut a piece of flesh from a living individual, and that piece of flesh is placed against the skin of another individual, the second individual would take on not only the appearance, but all physical characteristics of the first individual. Testing has shown that the minimum amount of skin required can be as little as 1 square centimeter. However, testing has also revealed that the amount of time the transformation lasts is directly proportional to the amount of flesh used. The ratio of time the transformation lasts to flesh used has been measured at approximately 1 hour for every square centimeter used. Once the time limit is passed, the affected individual will revert to their original form. Analysis of SCP-034's ability shows that its method of mimicking another individual is nearly flawless. Not only does SCP-034 change its bearer's physical appearance, but their actual physical attributes as well, including height, weight, muscle mass, bone density, hair growth, eyesight, strength, physical medical conditions, and even DNA. The only physical traits that are not carried over in the transformation process are wounds caused by SCP-034 itself. Subjects still retain their original personality and memories while transformed. Even though the process is nearly instantaneous, taking only a few seconds, human test subjects have described the transformation process as extremely painful. Subjects also may suffer psychological trauma, depending on the extent of their physical transformation. Side effects are especially serious if the subject takes on the appearance of a person with differing gender, or with wildly different physical attributes. However, in order to function properly, the individuals who have their flesh cut off by SCP-034 must still be biologically alive to maintain the transformation.  Further details may be found in lab report 034-A. Also, SCP-034 only appears to work on human subjects. Cross-species experiments with SCP-034 have resulted in data expunged. SCP-034 came into foundation possession when an imposter disguised as Dr. attempted to infiltrate site. The imposter was apprehended when authorities discovered the real Dr. tied up in his home with a large portion of his right arm skinned. Further details may be found in post interrogation report 22-11. Lab report 034-A. We've decided to test several scenarios dealing with the limits of SCP-034's capabilities. Test 1. Sample taken from deceased human cadaver and applied to subject D-452. There is no observable effect. Test 2. Sample taken from D-532 and applied to D-452. D-452 successfully mimics D-532's appearance. Upon termination of D-532, D-452 immediately reverts back to original form. Test 3. Sample taken from D-433 while under a medically induced coma and applied to subject D-452. D-452 successfully mimics D-433's appearance and manages to maintain the transformation and consciousness. Test 4. Sample taken from a brain-dead medical patient who suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and applied to D-452. D-452 successfully mimics the patient's appearance but immediately loses consciousness upon transformation. D-452 does not regain consciousness until the transformation period expires. D-452 retains no memory of the event. Test 5. Sample taken from D-625 who suffered a broken arm due to a confrontation with security staff. D-452 successfully mimics D-625's appearance including the broken arm. D-452's broken arm is remended when the transformation period expires. Test 6. Sample taken from a terminally ill medical patient and applied to D-452. The patient's terminal illness was caused by an inherent genetic defect. D-452 successfully mimics the patient's appearance as well as the patient's illness. Both the terminally ill patient and D-452 expire at the same time after which D-452 reverts back to original form. Test 7. Sample taken from a chimpanzee and applied to D-466. D-466 experiences rapid growth of hair across their entire body. There are otherwise no other significant physical or physiological changes. Body hair disappears when the transformation period expires. Test 8. Sample taken from an Atlantic salmon and applied to D-466. There is no observable effect. Test 9. Under O5 authorization, a sample taken from SCP is applied to D-466. D-466 exhibits extremely adverse reaction upon transformation and data expunged, resulting in significant damage to testing environment, multiple injuries among test and security staff, and the death of D-466. Testing of anomalous humanoids with SCP-034 is suspended indefinitely. Post interrogation report 2211. As per standard operating procedure, we first attempted to interrogate the prisoner via nonviolent and noninvasive means. However, when such methods proved ineffective, we began to implement conventional interrogation techniques. While partially successful, we deemed it necessary to use SCP- SCP- SCP- and SCP- we managed to learn the following facts. The prisoner had extensive knowledge on the existence of the Foundation and its inner workings. The prisoner had extensive knowledge on other SCP-related agencies and groups. The prisoner was not acting under any official capacity from any government agency. The prisoner obtained SCP-034 and instructions on its operation from an unknown benefactor. The prisoner was given very specific instructions to infiltrate site and maintain his position until further notice. The prisoner had enough samples of Dr. to stay within site for days. Regrettably, the prisoner did not survive interrogation. Agent- Item number SCP-044. Object class. Safe. Special containment procedures. A constant stream of hydrogen ions, unbound oxygen atoms, and other trace-free radicals emanate from the muzzle of SCP-044 at all times. Because of this, the docking stations of SCP-044 are to be well ventilated to keep dangerous gases and moisture from accumulating. Muzzle coverings are to be fitted at all times to keep birds and small animals from investigating the large open barrel of SCP-044. Addendum. SCP-044 has not been involved in any significant accidents in the years that has been held by the Foundation. SCP-044 has been reclassified as safe. Must I really define significant incidents? If containment procedures and standard safety protocols are followed, 44 appears to be no more dangerous than any other big gun. No, the bare incident does not count. O5. Description. SCP-044 is a howitzer, secretly manufactured in the late stages of the Second World War by Krupp engineers, personally supervised by Albert Speer, German Minister of Armaments and War Production under Adolf Hitler. SCP-044 is unique not only because of its size, 251,000 kilograms or 251 metric tons, but also because it fires unconventional artillery using an atypical delivery method. Rather than having a breach for loading shells, the rear of the barrel is configured into a massive air compression chamber. Any object or pile of objects that fit may be loaded into SCP-044's muzzle to be used as ammunition. Because of its size, SCP-044 must remain rail mounted and requires two freight locomotives to move. Researchers believe that SCP-044 weakens molecular and atomic bonds and the material loaded into its muzzle. However, the method by which SCP-044 affects molecular bonds is not known due primarily to the numerous complex mechanisms that compose the housing and workings of SCP-044. In fact, some mechanisms appear useless and seem to do nothing other than spin or make noise even when SCP-044 is not supplied with power. Both equipment and personnel have been lost while exploring the inside of SCP-044's barrel. When SCP-044 is fired, all matter within its barrel is ejected at a high rate of speed as a glowing red slug, proportional in size to the amount of mass loaded into the muzzle. Upon striking a solid object or the ground, the slug explodes with a yield proportional to the mass of the original ammunition at no less than a 100% mass-to-energy conversion rate. The yield will also increase somewhat the longer the slug remains in the barrel. The greatest known yield was achieved when the administrator's 8,900 kg or 19,500 lb personal diesel pickup truck was loaded in its entirety into the muzzle of SCP-044 and fired in the pictured experiment. Item number SCP-117 Object Class, Safe Special Containment Procedures SCP-117 is to be kept in the small leather pouch it was found in unless in use or in current study. Any personnel deemed to mentally fit may enter the containment cell of the SCP though if they are suspected to be trying to remove the SCP without permission they are to be searched and if that is the case they are to be reprimanded. The door to the containment cell should remain locked and a guard posted only when the object is in use. Description The item appears to be a regular multi-tool of unknown make and brand found in f***ing Florida. At first glance only the normal tools are found screwdriver, knife, can opener, etc. but if the user is faced with a task regardless of what tool the subject intends to pull out and use a tool perfectly fitted for the job will take its place regardless of spatial quantities that are being broken by the tool. All other tools always seem to be present though after the task is completed and the tool closed unless faced with a task requiring that tool again the tool cannot be found on the tool again. Addendum Document number 117A Effects of Usage After countless uses and testing with the SCP it has been discovered to cause harm and possibly death to the user by means of absorbing iron, copper, calcium and zinc from the user's body as long as the user is touching the device. Gloves seem to have no curbing effect on this and the rate of absorption seems to depend on the tools used or created by SCP-117. It is advised that only Class D personnel are used in conjunction with this SCP to prevent death or injury of researchers. Document number 117B Usage log of SCP-117 The redundant entries not entered unless they exhibit different results. Situation A loose screw on a metal plate Tool produced by SCP Screwdriver, though not the standard screwdriver Situation A nail Barely in piece of timber Tool produced by SCP Standard hammer Situation A piece of timber with proposed cut lines drawn Tool produced by SCP An electric saw which needed no outside power source Situation A piece of bulletproof glass Tool produced by SCP An unknown laser cutting tool Which needed no outside power source Situation SCP Tool produced by SCP A bloodied combat knife Situation An agent with a broken bone Tool produced by SCP A small item with a trigger Which when pulled emitted an odd radiation Instantly healing the injury Situation Class D personnel fit for execution Tool produced by SCP Data expunged Situation Communication needed with SCP-363 Tool produced by SCP Data expunged Situation A non-shuffled deck of playing cards Tool produced by SCP A mid-sized mechanical shuffler Situation Class D personnel with terminal cancer Tool produced by SCP Item similar to sixth test Situation A perfectly healthy Caucasian human male With no criminal record Tool produced by SCP Data expunged Situation A perfectly healthy Hispanic human male With no criminal record Tool produced by SCP Data expunged Situation A silver dinner fork in perfect condition Tool produced by SCP No tools could be found on the SCP Situation Data expunged Tool produced by SCP A screwdriver Situation A dirty window Tool produced by SCP A nozzle that sprayed a mixture of soap and water That completely cleaned the window Situation An uncharged iPod Tool produced by SCP The iPod end of the charging cord Which needed no outside power source Situation A blank sheet of standard computer paper Tool produced by SCP A pen filled with a seemingly infinite supply of black ink Situation A Samsung cellular phone Tool produced by SCP A small device that when attached to the phone Increased signal strength by approximately 250% Document number 117G Developments concerning SCP-117 After exposing the SCP to an array of different items and people It appears that the object may very well be sentient to some degree Because of this, we must consider the fact that the SCP is susceptible to telepathy It must not come into contact with any SCPs with known telepathic powers Dr. Kleiman The above was a transcript of the personal notes of Dr. Kleiman Who seems to have taken a harmless interest in the object Testing with other SCPs is suspended Note number 117-1 Testing is suggested for SCP-882 And is under consideration by Dr. Kleiman Note number 117-2 Further biological testing is halted by Dr. Kleiman After incident number 117-4A The SCP is still fit to be used for any repairs around the facilities As long as the SCP is followed by one or more armed guards Briefed on the proper use of the SCP Note number 117-4 After much consideration I must deny testing of SCP-117 with SCP-882 The risk of damaging SCP-882 was simply too great to overlook Dr. Kleiman Note number 117-26 After incident number 117-3F I'm forced to put a stop to all testing of SCP-117 In conjunction with other SCPs The risk of a total loss of containment is far too great All biological testing is to be halted until a later date As the results so far have proved... Varying And there is a limit of Class D staff available for my research Dr. Kleiman Note number 117-27 Biological testing resumed by Dr. Kleiman With mixed results Testing of SCP-117 with other SCPs Under reconsideration by O5 Though it seems unlikely further testing will occur Note number 117-28 Testing is suggested for SCP-682 Item number SCP-127 Object Class Safe Special containment procedures SCP-127 is considered no more dangerous than a normal firearm of its type However, due to its extraordinary properties It is to be held in weapons locker 7C when not in use And suspended in water rich in calcium and protein At this time Only the research team assigned to SCP-127 Has clearance to access it Description SCP-127, upon first glance Appears to be a standard MP5K submachine gun Tests have revealed that aside from the outer steel shell The entirety of the firearm is organic and alive The weapon's ammunition initially appeared to be human-like teeth However, DNA testing of the bullets resulted in no match to any known species on Earth SCP-127 features two settings Semi-automatic and fully automatic An audible groan can be heard when switching between the two Upon depleting the weapon's magazine Typically 60 shots It takes between 3-5 days to regrow a new supply of ammunition Attempts to remove the magazine have resulted in failure It seems to be permanently attached to the weapon SCP-127 does not seem capable of reproduction at this time Scans have shown no apparent reproductive organs and requires no sustenance beyond water, calcium, and protein SCP-127 was originally located in the house of a Mr. James R. Who was found dead from a heart attack on the night of November 17, 1991 Coroner's reports state that Mr. R. died sometime in the morning of November 8 But was not noticed missing until more than a week later No complications or unusual circumstances were found to lead to his death In his extensive gun collection, the ATF and FBI were notified to collect his weapons SCP-127 was discovered during testing and cataloging And was promptly collected by SCP agents Addendum, reclassified as safe in 1991 Item number SCP-154 Object Class Euclid Special Containment Procedures SCP-154 is to be kept within Weapon Locker 8 In Armed Research Site 47 Personnel wishing to research or use item must submit the required request forms Anyone attempting to remove the item without clearance Or from outside the facility is to be terminated on site Description SCP-154 is a pair of simple bronze bracelets Completely circular and large enough to comfortably hang off the arm of most people Traff analysis has proven that the item is composed entirely of copper, 85% Tin, 11% Arsenic, 3% And traces of other slight impurities, less than 1% When both bracelets are worn on the same arm And the wearer concentrates on them with arms extended in a depiction of a traditional Knocked bowstring pose Achieved by having the arm with the bracelets completely extended in front of one's self With the opposing arm extended up to the elbow of the fully extended arm A large, indistinct, incorporeal bow will form in the extended hand And both bracelets will glow slightly From that point onwards, SCP-154 can be treated as a bow Until the pose or concentration is broken Which results in the bracelets reverting to normal There is no actual bowstring But completing the motion of pulling it achieves the same effect When the bowstring is pulled and released The bones of the arm will be forcibly ejected from the extended limb Traveling in a straight path at speeds recorded over 300 meters per second The missing bones and resulting damage to the arm are quickly regenerated And the weapon is capable of being fired again within minutes Tests using subjects possessing multiple arms and hands Such as SCP-1884-B Demonstrated the ability to fire SCP-154 several times With the bones of different arms being used with each successive firing The regeneration implemented by the item is limited Only affecting the damage inflicted by the weapon itself This regeneration seems to be in automatic action And will continue in almost all situations Both firing the weapon and the resulting regeneration are understandably painful And participants which have used the item once are generally disinclined to repeat usage However, there have been found to be some occasional abnormalities regarding the regeneration Most often this manifests simply as minor mutations of the original subject Such as changes in size, pigmentation, and structure of the original organelles These are an uncommon occurrence Capable of happening during any use of the weapon Though generally tend to occur during repeat usage There are more drastic abnormalities Though these are much rarer And coincide with highly frequent use These mutations can range from anything such as the growth of extra joints and digits in the affected arm To a complete change of the chemical or physical structure of the limb One test subject unknowingly had the bone matter within his arm converted into an unstable explosive compound Only discovering the fact when it detonated, causing two fatalities and three casualties Another had the entire bone and musculature structure morphed into fully functional serpentine physiology Item Number SCP-186 Object Class Euclid Special Containment Procedures The site of SCP-186, comprising an approximately 300 km2 area Is to be closed to the public under the auspices of a Habitat Restoration Initiative for the European Bison An automated security perimeter is to be established, monitored by staff at remote site 355 Security personnel must patrol SCP-186 every two weeks Any anomalous phenomena observed within the security perimeter must be documented and reported to the research director All known primary sources documenting the events of SCP-186 have been secured by the Foundation These materials are to be stored in the Site-23 archives Due to the age of the materials and the potential for deterioration All access to these documents must be approved by the Site-23 Archivist and handled per their instructions All instances of SCP-186-1 are to be secured in the munitions wing of Site-23 Description SCP-186 is the site of an unrecorded military engagement, occurring from 7.24.1917 to 8.13.1917 Between elements of the Imperial German Army and forces of the Russian Provisional Government As part of the larger conflict of World War I and the continuing effects resulting from its aftermath This conflict came to be known to its participants as the Battle of Hussiatin Woods in surviving accounts In July of 1917, an armed engagement between a detachment of approximately 500 German soldiers and the remnants of a Russian division scattered during the German counter-attack to the Kerensky offensive took place at the location of SCP-186 The forces met in heavily forested terrain outside the town of Hussiatin in what is currently Ternopol Oblast, Ukraine On both sides of the conflict, combatants deployed anomalous weaponry, utilizing technology that is yet to be duplicated or understood at present This battle eventually resulted in the deaths or permanent incapacitation of all forces involved and approximately 300 civilians in its general vicinity SCP-186-1 consists of recovered weaponry dating from the initial containment of SCP-186 in 1917 and includes the following A highly modified weapon resembling the Skoda M1909 machine gun, capable of causing extremely rapid tumor-like growths to appear within the body of any organism larger than a common lab rat Mortar shells, specially designed to be fired from a mortar to a 58mm type 2 containing a gas that causes animal cells to become unable to cease life function Concertina wire, coated with an unknown hallucinogenic compound that permanently affects human test subjects upon entering the bloodstream Remnants of an unknown incendiary device believed to have been detonated at the close of the conflict, accounting for what is estimated to be 34% of total casualties British Empire issue number 27 type grenades, containing a gas capable of passing through all tested gas mask filtration systems and causing humans to constantly experience the sensation of being on fire 8x50mm rimmed French rifle cartridges containing powdered human bone instead of gunpowder, purpose unknown Historical records indicate that the German detachment involved in the battle of Hussiatin Woods, at the behest of a Hungarian military advisor named Matias Nemes, specifically pursued the group of Russian forces in retreat, which at the time included French scientist Dr. Jean Durand Based on documents of the era since suppressed by the Foundation, it is believed that these two individuals are responsible for the development and limited manufacture of SCP-186-1 and had attached themselves to opposing sides of the Eastern Front for the express purpose of deployment of these weapons in a combat setting Research log 186-7 Notable anomalies documented at SCP-186 04-11-1923 A three kilometer squared area in the southwestern portion of SCP-186 experiences a spontaneous die off of trees Decomposition occurs on an extremely accelerated time scale, and area is completely cleared of trees and other plant life within two weeks 01-13-1927 Despite temperatures consistently at negative 15 degrees Celsius, no snow is visible throughout central portion of site Temperatures measured at site are consistent with surroundings 09-02-1932 The sounds of sporadic gunfire are recorded throughout the site, despite lack of observed presence of any civilians Sounds persist for three days 05-30-1936 Agents check off and fail to return from routine patrol of SCP-186 No subsequent traces of either person are ever recovered 05-15-1941 Acting in accordance with intelligence sources embedded in the Third Reich, Foundation personnel evacuate SCP-186 in advance of Operation Barbarossa Subsequent to decommissioning observation posts, faint glow visible from 150 meters documented by staff to move through site Definitive visual contact unestablished prior to evacuation 10-29-1945 Containment of SCP-186 re-established after discussions with Soviet Union officials Upon initial patrol after re-establishment of containment, 13 corpses dressed in uniforms and insignia of the German 4th Panzer Army And 27 corpses in Soviet 22nd Army uniforms are discovered in advanced state of decay No identifications of personnel are successful, as all identifying documents and insignia have been removed prior to Foundation containment 02-19-1959 Following the formation of a large sinkhole in the northeastern portion of SCP-186 Four men are observed wandering the immediate area in a state of extreme disorientation Dressed in water later identified to be severely decomposed and degraded World War I-era military uniforms Of both German Empire and Russian issue Subjects detained and routed to Site-23 for subsequent research 04-02-1959 After an extensive excavation of the site of the northeastern sinkhole 23 persons are discovered buried at a depth of 15 meters in a mass grave Alive, despite decades of internment and various wounds and injuries As with subjects discovered earlier Most are dressed in remnants of military uniforms of the World War I-era And are presumed to be participants of the original SCP-186 event Extensive research at Site-23 yields little information As subjects are unable to provide any meaningful information or communication to Foundation staff Due to extensive psychological trauma and profound mental disorders Foundation staff attempt to euthanize subjects after three weeks of research But fail in all attempts Subjects subsequently tranquilized, anesthetized, and incinerated 07-29-1962 Prior to upgrades to containment facilities Security perimeter of SCP-186 found to be almost 85 meters longer than originally documented Inquiry later rules out clerical error, a source of discrepancy 12-13-1975 Localized weather phenomena documented as occurring entirely and exclusively within SCP-186 These include sustained winds up to 120 kilometers per hour 20 centimeters of rainfall and temperatures temporarily reaching 48 degrees Celsius 08-12-1987 Packs of wolves, numbering an estimated 200 total individuals Travel to SCP-186 Mass at a point in the central region of the site and immediately disperse 0303-2009 A stand of three spruce trees is observed in the southwestern deforested area The first documented plant life since 1923 event Estimated age of trees is 50 years Transcripts of selected SCP-186 documents Document 186-3 A flyer advertising a May 1911 lecture Given by Dr. Durand to the Royal Institute of Chemistry To end all wars A presentation by visiting scholar Dr. Jean Durand Formerly of the Academy of Sciences On the promise of modern science to create weapons of such terrible deterrent power So as to render future wars obsolete Dr. Durand shall explain in the convergence of chemistry, ballistics, alienism And other emerging scientific fields of endeavor That will enable mankind to usher in a new age of peace and modernity To be given on the 19th of May, Derbyshire Lecture Hall Document 186-11 Opinion piece published in the January 2nd, 1912 edition Of the Hungarian newspaper Nepsava Authored by Matias Nemes To my fellow subjects of His Highness Emperor Franz Josef Truly, the greatest of human glories is the unification of a numerous and disparate people Into a single, unstoppable purpose That our marvelous kingdom should embody this inescapable principle Should go without saying from Vienna to Budapest But there are those, both within our territories and elsewhere on the continent That would see us splintered into a thousand shards And stand in the way of our destiny What is to be done with such agitators and malcontents? While traders and radicals are hung properly in the manner of the dogs that they are There is no execution sufficient to quell the embers of treachery that burn in the hearts of the Balkanites How are we to demonstrate our unity of purpose? Our power? Are God given place at the head of the European procession? By force of arms The hangman can only strike fear into the heart of dozens A proper army can strike it into the souls of millions Perhaps we have the numbers, but in this we are not alone The Russian and the Muslim can rally hordes to their banners But for all of their masses are merely unruly nuisances What sets man apart from the animals is not his numerical superiority No, but his superiority of mind demonstrated through quick wit and artifice My fellow subjects, I have dedicated my life to the construction of such demonstrations of artifice That none may stand against my weapons, save the Almighty It is through the force of superior arms that we will achieve our grand design Both within our borders and without Give me the factories, give me the manpower Give me the chance to serve our empire through my industries And I will deliver to the people the flaming sword that will light the way to a civilized Europe It is through these means, and only these means That we will solve the questions that plague us today Document 186-32 Telegram sent by Jean Duran to Matias Nemes From Paris, April 28th, 1912 Have considered your proposal, must decline Methods inferior and derivative of own research Your aims are of conquest, mine are of peace Regards, J. Durand Document 186-39 Undated memorandum from General Felix Graf von Boethmer Of the Imperial German Army to unnamed subordinates Effective immediately, Lieutenant Nemes is assigned to your unit as an advisor Experimental armaments are only to be deployed on Lieutenant Nemes' orders Despite potential for a breakthrough on the Romanian front Unwise to use these ungodly things until more is known of their efficacy Rumors of similar developments among the Tsarists remain unsubstantiated Document 186-52 Letter from Private Pyotr Avtakov, participant in the Battle of Hussiatin Woods Dearest Nadja, I have heard rumors of the madness happening at home Be comforted that it is nothing like the madness that is happening here We thought that four years of war had taught us everything we had to know and then more We learned nothing The damnable Frenchman that the men elected to lead them spoke of peace He spoke of weapons so terrible that we could make the enemy surrender on the spot We were fools We had run at the trenches with dead men's rifles and sticks in our hands We believed him, the way we believed anyone that has supplies We never thought where this man came from We didn't wonder why he had the weapons he did We didn't care We wanted to live We never considered that the enemy had the same things we did I do not think the Frenchman did either Or at least, I hope he did not I cannot imagine any man who would walk into this knowing what would happen Maybe the Frenchman is not a man Maybe he is something else I am sitting now in a hole I have dug in a forest somewhere I should have run the second I saw the German take aim at Giliov That was no bullet fired at him I could not look any more after his face came apart And he was still screaming I thought I saw hands pulling his head apart Somewhere in the distance Volikov is screaming that he can see devils roasting his children He has been screaming about the same thing for five days I should have run away so many times The Frenchman gave us a new gas weapon We refused at first, remembering what had happened in Romania But he promised us that this was different That this would put our enemies down without harming them Who wants any more bloodshed? He asked us We could not argue with that We fired mortars at a position ahead of us A strange blue gas seeped from behind the trees But the Frenchman cautioned us against advancing One more thing he said He took one of our rifles And taking aim took a single shot Before we could ask what a scientist could know of shooting We heard a scream He had hit one of the Germans He handed me a pair of field glasses Take a look, he said I saw the German missing half of his head Still screaming I have seen everything in this war But I have never seen faces like those of that German's fellows As they watched their comrade The Frenchman, in his terrible calm voice Explained that his shot had to have destroyed at least a quarter of the soldier's brain tissue Enough to cause instant death, he said But watch I kept watching through the field glasses The German didn't stop screaming At least ten minutes I watched, unable to move away The Frenchman smiled He smiled at this scene The gas, he said Insured that death would not come Regardless of injury The Germans were too horrified by their comrade To notice that they were not behind cover And the Frenchman lined up another shot The rest of the soldier's head was now gone And the screaming was replaced by some sort of low grunting The likes of which I have never heard from men No, the Frenchman said No harm at all I have bestowed the gift of life on your opponents Who could possibly stand against that? He asked I had to leave and vomit behind some bushes I had not done that since the first trenches Who indeed could keep fighting after such a thing But fight they did Once a group of us were ambushed and chased to a meadow The first men through the trees were hit with something that took their skin I cannot describe why seeing men blown apart Is not as frightening as seeing a neatly flayed corpse on a battlefield But our group scattered We are no longer armies Not anymore We are animals trapped in a forest together Uncomprehending Sometimes, when Volokov sleeps I hear the Frenchman in the woods Yelling in Hungarian Yelling And laughing I would almost rather listen to Volokov I am going to die in this hole I am too scared of what is outside of it to do otherwise Minkin is going to try to brave the horrors in the woods to escape I am sending this letter with him In the hopes that he does As I gave it to him He joked that he will get a civil service commission after the war For delivering a letter from hell I am not certain he is wrong Goodbye, Pyotr