Thank you for joining me as I sit down with Pastor David and Marie Rosales from Calvary Chapel, Chino Valley, as we discuss marriage, raising children, and managing difficulties that arise in the family. We're ready to begin so let's talk marriage. One of the things I'd like to talk about is lack of vulnerability. No among Christian circles there can be a lack of vulnerability which can be a major culprit in marriage challenges. What do I mean by this? Well, there seems to be a hesitancy to share when we're struggling in our marriage or a fear of being judged by others. In some circles, it's common for men and women to openly complain about their spouse which is not exactly healthy. But at least they're not pretending things are great when they're not. But within Christianity more often I see a trend towards the opposite, acting like things are totally great when actually when things are really falling apart. Sometimes we are unwilling to be vulnerable with others in our circle, even good friends, because we may not know what their reaction could be. We also sometimes think that since we're believers we should have this marriage thing all figured out. We believe that we shouldn't be struggling, therefore we don't ask for help when we need it. And this is a major mistake and a big reason why Christian marriages struggle. So my question to you both would, what are your thoughts on should we be vulnerable to others or do we keep these things that are problematic within the confines of our marriages? I think that when it comes to when I'll restart, you have to be wise who you disclose anything to. Exactly. I don't want to deposit my treasures in somebody else's treasure chest. You have to be careful who you open up to. Even Jesus did not disclose himself to all men because John tells us before he knew what was in men. So there is a wisdom in knowing who to speak to and what to say and how to go about doing that. There's a wisdom in that. Much of the problems that I've seen in marriages has been that people are making bad choices when it comes to who do I share with or if I share at all. And so they may share with people who are not really gifted and qualified or experienced with the Lord enough to see this as a spiritual challenge. And I've seen that many times over the years where they have disclosed things to people that really shouldn't have known these things and it's come back to their own hurt. So for me, I'll be honest with you and I know I should probably expand on this, but there are some things that belong to Jess Marie and me that nobody else needs to know. Nobody else needs to know just us and God. That's us. So there's that one level. And then there are things that maybe I could share with one of my buddy friends and say, you know, man, I've been having a little difficulty with this. Well, what do you do?  And so when I was a newlywed growing older, I didn't have a lot of people to go to that I trusted in you. I didn't have a personal deep fellowship yet with my pastor. And so it was just me, Marie and God. And I discovered that if we're real with God and real with each other, if we're real, we can work these things out. And we did. And we did. So the friendships that we have are friendships that are not counseling friendships, right? You know, they're they're they're friendships. They're let's get some coffee. Let's go out for dinner or how you guys do. And hey, let's take a vacation together. And that's what we do. Because we worked out all of those things together. Marie and I never got to the place John not to say that others have haven't because they do and we minister to them. You do all the time. It's not that that we were perfect. God knows. You know, I hope I don't come off like that. It's that for me, my marriage meant so much plus. I'm very protective with Marie, very. There are things that are in our marriage between us that is for us. So this church knows that that my wife is like a person running for office. And I'm her campaign manager. And I'll I'll they'll ever know about my wife is the good. Because that's pretty much all I see in her. But they would never know anything. If somebody said, well, what is it about Marie that irritates you? My personal response would be, well, it's really none of your business. Now, I might I might say it in a friendly way.  And I want everybody to love her. And so I'm not that guy. Neither is Marie. She's not that woman who would sit down with or with a couple and she'll say, you know, David always this and he bothers me when he does that. She's never done that. Now, that's the danger of doing. I mean, and not making fun of him, right? The slander that can come across. Yes. Where people think it's a lack of vulnerability or being vulnerable. They're really it's turned into a trashing place for their significant or their spouse. And and so that's that's good wisdom because even with my wife and I'm very careful, it would probably be you guys that would go to if something serious came down. But other than that, it's between the Lord, Livy and myself.  And to me, it's it's it's exactly right. That's something that she should keep to herself and and and pray about who she should speak to and also pray about allowing the Lord to give her love for her husband. How can she do to encourage him? Oftentimes, they're not encouraged. And they need our encouragement. Yes. And so you guys have heard these throughout the years. Yes, we've been together for many years and in ministry. You know, can you imagine the many conversations we've had over the years, John? We've had quite a number. You know, and and we're here for that. I mean, we're here to minister to help and everything. But you know what, when God speaks in and gives qualifications for the bishop used to be the husband of one wife. He used to have a solid home life. He's supposed to have eyes for one woman and his children are to be an obedience. You know, he does the best he can to raise them in the fear and knowledge of God. You sincerely do that. You're in the place where you can counsel. But if you don't, if you're putting on like you're, you know, got it together and our marriage is solid, our kids are solid. If you're putting on like that, it shows. And so for us, you know, if there's anything anybody who knows me and Marie, anybody who really knows us. I mean, I have a church that doesn't really know us. They only know what I do on a Sunday. But I have those who do know us. Anybody who knows David and Marie, where we're casual and conversing or having coffee or getting a meal, going on vacation, Randy and Jeanette Walls, Dan and Debbie Renshaw, we have friends like that. They can tell you that my number one priority as a man is this woman. They can tell you that. They know that they've seen it. They've seen it in in the times where we're just being ourselves. You know, we were walking down the street, Marie and I, and she told me, and I guess I can say this, I mentioned it the other day on Sunday in our mentoring class. But she knows that this man here, even at my age, still has an instinct, if you will, to be her shield. She knows that in a physical way, if necessary, she knows that. And we were together in a city. And I saw across the street, I saw a man who, to be honest with you, either he either he was just mentally unstable, or he was he was under the influence of some drug or something. But he really, really was I watched him as he was screaming at somebody walking a door. I saw him and he was right across the street. I saw him. And I and I so I picked that up because I'm the guy in the crowd who's walking watching everybody. That's what I do.  Old people call each other boys and girls.  And I but I've got my eye out. I've always got my eyes out. I'm always I'm scanning the street to see. And it's just me. And I see this guy coming across the street in our direction. And the first thing I did is I turned to Marine or actually said to Marie, get behind me. Get behind me, girls. And they stopped and got behind Randy and me. That's what we do. Marie knows that because I think this guy I saw him he was he's he's and I'll use the word we don't use it anymore. It's probably not proper. But we used to say he's acting crazy. He was acting irrationally. He could be carrying a knife. He could he could he could he could turn on us. So who's who's supposed to protect who.  I will, you know, she knows that. And and and Randy, Randy didn't notice what was going on. Because Randy's not me. Randy doesn't look around like I do. So Randy gets right next to me, our girls are behind us and all the guy goes in a different direction. That's what makes her know that she can safely trust me because I'm always watching out for her always. And so I know her. I respect her.  She responds to that and treasures me so she doesn't show me disrespect. She doesn't speak ill of me to anybody. She would never do that. And if we have a problem, we work it out together. And we have over the years. And who doesn't have difficulties and problems and arguments and and feelings of whatever who doesn't. We had four babies and a miscarriage. Marie's moods would go up and down to the pregnancies, you know, and me, I've got ministry job and I've got pressures I'm living under and then to raise kids and to try and care for a church, you know, there's pressure that people don't imagine unless they're part of a ministry as a pastor and pastor's wife. We knew that we had to concentrate on who we are together. Because she I told her this, I said, you know, years ago, I said this to the church before, but I said, one day I'm not going to be going to that pulpit, I'll be retired from full time pastoral ministry. And when that happens, I don't want to have to get to know the woman I'm married to. Because there's a lot of guys who spend 35 years on the job 40 years on the job, they retire, and now they're living with a woman who doesn't know him. He doesn't know his kids.  And now these two strangers in the same house are trying to get along because they didn't invest in each other. They don't know each other.  You know that she knows it. Because I'll say it in the morning, I'll be doing something and I'll, I'll see something and I'll throw it away or put it away. She'll go, where is this such and such? And I go, I'm your helper. I'll tell her, I'll say like that, I'm your helper. And she goes, well, helper, stop helping me because I need to know where these things are. And you put them away or you throw them away. You know, but those are the things, you know, I don't know anything. I don't know anything more valuable to a man than his wife and his kids and his grandchildren. I don't get that, you know, hobbies and things that are good. If you have one, that's great. But you know what? I just wanted to know her. And, and I'm a one woman man.  And, and I'm a one woman man.  So it works for us, but I think that's biblical. It's supposed to, it's supposed to. And it works when it's biblical. It'll work for those who put that effort and investment into one another. Amen. I believe pride is one of these other significant reasons why marriage is struggle. Why do we fear what other people think? Because we're proud. Why don't we want to be looked at as weak or unable to keep our marriage together? Going to get help for a medical issue? Easily done. But going for biblical guidance and counseling or marriage counseling? Oh, that's a whole different level of humility. Reaching out towards others means recognizing, no, we can't do this thing on our own. We may need help. We're not perfect. Someone once said humility is God's favorite attribute. So my question would be to you both, does pride keep many marriages, excuse me, does pride keep many from having a great marriage? Because I see this underlying thing that says we refuse to seek help either from God or from others, because we feel like we should have it all together as Christians. You know, it's pride that caused Satan to fall. And pride is a chief sin. And yeah, I would say that when somebody knows within their own heart that I need help and refuses to find it because they're not willing to be honest and to seek out those who are qualified and capable of helping them, that they're basically digging their own grave for their marriage. And so yes, pride is a chief sin. It's a disqualifying sin in ministry. And it most certainly is a chief sin in relationships. And so humility is something that the Lord, He produces in us. And it is something that He, by His Spirit, gives to us. And it is something that keeps our marriages strong. You know, the ability to say I was wrong, I'm sorry, is a very important ingredient. It really is.  And as a result, your family will suffer, your children will suffer, and your marriage will. You know, Marie can tell you that in our relationship, I had to learn to say, I'm sorry, I was wrong. Because I didn't know how to form those words at first, you know, I was a blamer. I said, well, you know, if you'd have done this, and you could have done that. But it didn't take long at all. Live with another human being you love. It doesn't take long for you to realize now if there's a problem. Well, I probably am part of it, or maybe the entire problem myself. That's why I, that's why, and I have guys in my church who have told me that they resent the way I speak to the men, like it's all them. But you know what, you know, Paul said that the glory of the man is his woman, is his wife. The glory of the man is his wife. I believe a man's real ministry is revealed by his marriage. I've always said that. Take a look at someone's marriage, you can tell. You see the ministry. You see the ministry. Yeah. That's what Paul said. You said the man is to be a lover of one woman, his children are to be under their authority. That's his ministry. And so your church is really your home. So a man who thinks he can navigate the church of God, the house of God, and to teach people when he himself is unteachable. That's why I don't trust any pastor who's always the hero in his own stories. I just do not trust him. This person's not being real. Because I don't need a hero. I have one. His name is Jesus. And I don't need a model for a husband because I had one, my dad. You know, so I never needed those things, you know, emotionally. What I need is reality. But I need his honesty. And I don't need to hear all the dirty laundry. I think it's foolish for a minister to come up and start whining about how bad things are and this and that. I think that he's not trusting God and he's not really walking in the spirit when he does that. But at the same time, don't tell me how successful you are every time I hear you. Because I'm old enough to know that you're not what you're saying you are. And so I'll lose respect for that person. So there has to be a wisdom in disclosure. But I think that if there's anything that the church world needs today, it is in terms of just the church, it is a pastor that's real. So the pastor needs to have that authenticity. But at the same time, he needs to work on the things he gives to other people. You know, my own pastor taught us, Chuck Smith taught us that the message ought to go first through your own heart before it goes to the people's hearts. And then that is true. So the Word of God sifts you as you're going through it, because anybody can give up a thrilling speech if they learn how to do it. Excuse me, but the vessels that are broken, you can hear the tear in the voice and the sorrow of the lesson. And you can see them as coming through. And this is what God will do. And I'll be sharing that, that kind of thing, even tomorrow night. Not what I'm saying exactly, but the principle where Job is being counseled by Bildad and Eliphaz. And I'm going to share with them, this is a man who hadn't done anything.  And it was all a spiritual war that got allowed to be unleashed in the life of Job. And so when you've got Eliphaz and you've got Bildad giving advice and telling them things, I point out that he sits and listens patiently. And the thing that I believe very important, I'll be saying this tomorrow in our Wednesday night study, but I believe very strongly is you need to listen to what's being said, because you may be wrong. And a lot of men aren't willing to admit that, not every man, but a lot of men aren't willing.  I am so, I'm always wrong. No, I'm not saying that either.  She already knows that anyway, right? No, it's just the honest balance that you need to have.  She knows that. She knows that. And yeah, I'm not a perfect man. And I don't say that lightly. I would like to be better than I am. She knows that.  She knows that. And I'm not a perfect woman. We work together. We work together. She's to me. Yes, you guys are shewied to me. As you're sharing this, if you were to think back to all the experiences that you've had speaking with other couples, and from a woman's perspective and from a male's perspective, have you seen pride in both sides? Or is it typically just, and if so, how does it, how have you seen it manifest with the woman and the man? You want to answer that baby? Well, not really. Well, I think, well, complain, complain after complaint from the woman. He doesn't do this. He doesn't do that. He doesn't kind of a tearing down of her husband. I've heard that constantly, constantly. And you can ask, well, what are you doing to help this? How are you doing?  And that's not getting you anywhere. What can you do to encourage your husband? And one of the things I think is a real solution, John, I really do, is choosing to have healthy relationships with friends and outsiders. Because fellowship helps you, especially when you're going through struggles and stuff. One, you don't need to go out for coffee with people and always tell them, she doesn't this and she doesn't that. And he hasn't this and he won't do that. Because who wants to go out with you a second time? He has draining. Yeah, he wants to go a second time. But for me, I think for me, I've always used men as models in a sense of saying, Oh, I admire that. I like the way they did that. So as even as a young man, I was the guy who had looked and see who could be the best influence to help me be a better man. You know, I had a great model, my father, he really was very patient. And he became a loving, very loving man. He wasn't at first. After he got saved, his whole life changed. And my dad became a warm, loving man. And everybody in this church, who knew my dad, knew my dad was that way. Everyone knew my dad that way, because that's what he became. He wasn't that way when I was young. He became that. So my dad was a model to me of transformation. And I used to tell him, Marie, I'd say, you see how he caters to my mom, because my mom was ill with such terrible illnesses. And, and, and daddy would take care of her. And, and, and I saw that. I saw that very, very, my dad literally laid his life down for that woman, literally laid his life down for her. He died caring for my mother. That was my dad. And so that's my model. I mean, you can improve on that. And so I have looked at other men that I admire. And now, and I see the tenderness that they may show or their willingness to hear or whatever quality I am lacking in. And I say to myself, I want that. I want to be that man. And, and so you learn from others. So I didn't have, I didn't have to say to someone, could you mentor me to be a good husband? I didn't do that. I just chose who I hung around with and who influenced me. And, and then I said to myself, I want to be that man. I want to be that man. When Marie and I married John, this is such, this is a very, it's a key. When Marie and I married, we did not say we will not make it. We did not say that. When we married, it is for life. It is one marriage for one lifetime together. Until death. That was our vow. I'm not going to lie to God. I'm going to stay faithful to this woman. And if I really loved her the day I married her, why wouldn't I love her now? If I really loved her, and I learned what love was over the years of, of the disappointments and the hurts and, and the struggles and everything that, that, that young marrieds go through, we went through everything.  But it was through the struggles for me that brought encouragement. And I am, I'm thankful for those struggles, John. I really am. We needed those struggles to be encouraged and, and to see what the Lord had in store for our lives. We did. It was, those were good times. They were good. They were tough, but there were good times because we meet struggles in our, we do need those struggles to, so God can show us what he's all about and how he can use us to, for his glory. And there's a story that we all know about the young, young guy who was walking by a plant and he saw a caterpillar struggling and, and he noticed that, that butterfly was coming out. And so as he was watching it, it was emerging from, from that state. And so he took some, some scissors and he, he clipped it and made it easier for the butterfly to come out. And, and when it came out, it's, its body was filled with fluid and the wings were very small and it died.  And he said, what do you mean I killed it? They said that it requires it to come out and that restricted chamber so that the fluids can be pressed into the wings so that the wings can form so it can fly. And by releasing it from that struggle, you caused it to die. You took away its ability to fly. That's what you did. So Marie and I for the longest time have known that we're emerging, that we go through pressures, but that God will use those to form us into what he wants us to be. And we know that. So instead of avoiding them and trying to clip it so we have no difficulty, it's the difficulties that have made me love this woman through thick and thin, for better or for worse, for sickness and in health. Those are the things we said until death do us part. That's, that's what our oath was, right? So why would I try and escape from the thing that God is using to form me into the man I pray to be? Why would I? And so my girl here has the same heart. So she's saying, I want to be this person. And I'm saying, I want to be this person. And so that's why Marie, and you've heard her say this more than once, she says the struggles because for her she values those things. She really does. I do. I'm thankful to God for I do. See, this is amazing to hear this because people may think it's a mindset. It's not, it's a heart set. It's something you guys from the out, from the out ghosts, from the get ghosts saying, we are going to make it. Absolutely. Because I think sometimes when people go through a struggle, they think it's the tell all and all. It's going to fall apart, not realizing that it's a heart set saying, we're going to get through these. And it's the struggle with the butterfly coming out of the cocoon. It's actually forming it to survive. And I think that's an amazing thing that people who are married need to hear this because a lot of times I think the struggle is, we're falling apart. Well, yeah, we may feel like it during that time. But when you hear your point of view of it, going through it, that it's been the greatest, some of the greatest times in your life is because you guys had the heart set to do it and to make it through. There's a place in Ireland that makes the best walking canes. Like I don't need one yet, but maybe one day I will, right? But in Ireland, there's this particular place that makes the best walking canes. And a fellow was buying one from the shopkeeper and he asked him, he said, where did you get this wood? This wood is amazing. It's so hard. It's so strong. So beautiful. He says, oh, on the coast, there's a bluff. And there are these kinds of trees will grow on that. And these trees suffer the harshest winters and the coldness. And it's just, it's just nothing can live there except these trees. And these trees are very hardy. And it's these trees, the ones that have suffered so much, have gone through so much to make the best walking sticks. And so I've often, I've heard that story many, many years ago.  It makes you into what you want it to be. And that's what marriage struggles have done for us. Yeah. There's nothing like it, John, you know this, there's, there's nothing like wishing you could buy your wife a meal and you can't or wish you could buy some shoes for your children, but you don't have the money. There's nothing like it that makes you appreciate and love them even more. And that's, that's what happened with me. Wishing I could do but being content with what I am and have and learning what really matters. And so when I, when I got my feet on the ground planted firmly on what really does matter, everything else that the Lord has blessed me with over the years has found its place, the place it's supposed to be in. I can, I value those things because we know how to have plenty and how to have nothing, but we've always had him and each other. And that's in the end, in the end you take nothing with you, nothing. You always put it ahead, but you take nothing with you. And so I have decided that when my children give my eulogy, which they will someday, when my wife is there and I'm no longer here, she will not regret being married to me. She will not.  She'll always have a heart for one man, which she does. And I have a heart for one woman. That's the way it works. And when you set your sights on those kinds of things, and with Jesus, how can we not, how can we not win? And we have, we are. We may never see the struggles that you guys endured early on as a couple. The church may never know those things, the things that were difficult, but the church can know from those struggles the beautiful marriage that has been blessed by keeping God centered in. My wife has held me in her arms as I've wept more than once, John, more than once. And it's tied us together. That hit me. Well, thank you guys. I mean, there's a couple more things we can probably get this next time, but thank you guys so much for your transparency and for sharing with us practical things to help us get through challenges in our marriages. And what an example you both have been to our church and to my, personally to my marriage. So I hope my wife's listening because you need to learn a lot. Just don't blame us for what you got. So thank you guys and God bless you. Thanks again for tuning in. Let's Talk Marriage is a ministry of Calvary Chapel, Chino Valley. If you've enjoyed this video, then please like and share it. We will see you again next week on another episode of Let's Talk Marriage.


Hello and welcome, thrilled to have you all back with us today for another episode of the nonprofit show, and I'm thrilled to have with us Laura Ingalls joining us. Again, you've been with us multiple times I want to say since March of 2020. Laura is the co owner and CEO of a Bayhaw Solutions and she's here to talk to us about five ways that nonprofits block online giving. Before we dive deep into this conversation with you Laura because I'm really excited to learn more from you. We of course want to remind our viewers and our listeners, who we are in case we haven't met yet. Julia Patrick CEO of the American nonprofit Academy so great to have you on, and I'm always so honored to serve alongside you as your co host, I'm Jarrett ransom, your nonprofit nerd CEO of the Raven group, and we continue to broadcast all of our shows and miss them again over 600 I think today is 612 but who's counting on Roku, YouTube, Amazon Fire TV, as well as Vimeo and if you're a podcast listener, you can queue us up there too so go ahead and listen to the nonprofit show wherever you stream your podcast. We are honored to have the continued support from our amazing presenting sponsors. I invite you to check them out but in about 28 and a half minutes would be best, and we want to give a shout out to blue meringue American nonprofit Academy, fundraising Academy at National University, nonprofit nerd, your part time controller staffing boutique and nonprofit thought leader. Yes, we are counting our episodes because it's been a phenomenal milestone. I mean before we went live Laura did say congratulations you guys have really like found the secret sauce and what's working so coming from a former CNN employee Laura that is just like huge kudos to us so thank you. And of course we want to say thank you to our sponsors that keep us going and growing with our guests like yourself. So we have Brianna your, your business partner on gosh it's been probably three weeks. We talked about mail how direct mail really you know you can increase your return on investment there, but Laura Ingalls co owner and CEO at a bay hot welcome back to talk to us about how we might be blocking our online donors. I want to thank you for having me, you might seem really counterintuitive, even ironic to be bringing on someone who is a male specialist, you know, all these beauties that are now starting to go out for phone numbers. Yes. But what you might not know is that I used to run a national nonprofits digital team as well. And digital and mail should be best friends they should go hand in hand to increase your response rates. Yeah. I love that you said that because I, I think we were chatting about this in the green room. And that is, I think there's a sense that if you do one you got to ditch the other and instead of blending them and so we're really excited to have you talk to us about that. And one of the first things you talked about is that hiding the donate button on the homepage. What, what is that. You know, I, I mentioned ironic because I want to harken back to the oldies but goodies a lot is more set isn't it ironic. Nonprofits would hide the donate button on their homepage, but it happens. You know those donate buttons on your homepage need to be big bold and above the fold. And here's what I mean by that. I shouldn't have to hunt around you know I shouldn't have to put on my, my other glasses. To try to find that donate button on your website. Make it big. I want to see it large. Best practice websites like save the children and care. You do not have to hunt around for those websites, you do not have to scroll down to find those websites. It should be bold it should be red, orange, hot pink. It should not be, you know, it should not be harmonious and color with the rest of your branding. Too many people are letting their branding agencies sell them a bell of goods, it needs to be red or as you'll see that on those sites. And again, you shouldn't have to scroll down to that main donation page area or that main homepage slider on your website to find the donate button. Make it easy to find. I love that big bold and above the fold. And you will see, you will see tons of I was on our website yesterday where you cannot find that website that donate button because it's actually white on a light background. Oh no. I know I had to put on my special, my special all lady glasses for that. Question. So I'm, you know, in vernacular, we're saying things like investment contribute transformational. What should that donate button say, should it say donate should it say contribute should it say invest like what is the word we want to. You want to use the word that your donors use. Donors know what donate means and donors know what give now means. Okay, everything else is just fancy. And I'm a word Smith by I mean that's what I do I write donation letters, emails and landing pages to make sure that you have that seamless experience across all those things. Make it simple, keep it simple, and make it big. And is there a preference to left hand side or the right hand side of the screen. You know, there is a thing called the serial position effect in which people remember in a series of things they remember the first thing, and they remember the last thing they have and the things in the middle just don't really registered to them. So let me ask you Julia, where do you look on a website for the donate button. I think it should be upper right, upper right is where most people are looking. And I also want to point out some people think that they can be clever and put a little heart next to their black or white donate button. No one is seeing that you need to make go look at care go look at save the children, they're crushing that because they want people to be able to invest, give to their emissions. Yeah. Wow. Okay, so we started off with a barn burner for number one. I'm like super excited you sold me on that. Now, number two, you talk about this and I need some help because I don't think I know where we're going website header and footer navigation on donate page. So ideally, you're going to make one click from your homepage to get to your donate page that one click. Don't make me make multiple clicks. And when I get there, do not give me opportunities to leave your page. I'm a very distracted person. I have on my website, a an example of a nonprofit that gives 25 separate links on their page. They've got their header. They've got the footer of their website, and then they actually have side navigation that is tempting me to click off. Take my money. Yeah, simplicity. That's what I'm hearing like make it as simple as possible because we really don't want to lose that donor or distract them with another shiny shiny object off to the side. Wow. I've made it make my transaction you know what we you know what we haven't talked about yet is that of the traffic that comes to your website only 17% convert and make a gift. 17% so you are repelling 83% that's the average donation page, we can do better. And my mind just, it's blown 17% is the conversion rate so we're losing over 80% of the visitors. Now is that to our website Laura or to our donate page. That's to your main donate page. Okay, that's the latest information from M&R benchmarks. Yeah, so you know what I'm talking about print versus online. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about improving conversion rates on our donate pages. Far too many of the small and medium nonprofits I talked to are not even tracking that that data. And it's really easy to calculate right. Okay, let's let's drill down on that. How often should be we be tracking it like quarterly monthly, so that we can understand what's going on like that's my first question. I would, I would make sure that I optimize my donate page before every major campaign. I would look at the data from the last campaign is there anything that we can learn. And what can I do to update it to simplify it. There's a client right now that is testing. If they offer fewer options on the website page in terms of the amounts. Do people give more do that testing in the early part of the year. So by the time you get to the end of the year when most of your donations are coming in, you've got it mastered. In general, do you think our donate forms have too many options because, you know, I feel like, I don't know, I feel like so many of us want to give you know the whole buffet to the donor so that we don't lose them so they don't become that 80 plus percent. But I'm thinking maybe, maybe that's wrong. You know, if you are consistently asking people to give, thanking them for their donation and reporting impact back to them, you have opportunities to educate them about other ways to give. You do not need to have your donate page do that heavy lifting. And I think a lot of nonprofits who are not being consistent. They want that donate page to be the free for all of all the options. But what we know is, you know, in 2004, Barry Schwartz wrote a book called the paradox of choice. And while it may seem that giving people many options is the right thing to do. What his research found is that when you give people many options, they actually get paralysis, and they can't make a decision, and they're going to bounce off your page. I'm trying to think of what are what is the least amount of things I can ask people to do in order to complete the donation. Then I can serve them up information about other ways that they could give in the future to try to retain them. So I would say narrow those traces down. If you go to those best practice websites I mentioned, you'll see they really only ask people for three things. Wow.  And I love how. So talk to us, because maybe I will love it but talk to us about how the mail campaign and the donor online platform as you said like they should be best friends and so are you seeing with your mail campaigns, like a landing page that is super simplified. Is that what you recommend. I don't think you want to have a lot of folks. There are some payment processors that people put on their websites, and it's just basically a box that says give us money. They don't have the option to have the same photo that appeared on your design on your landing page, you should make that emotional connection. You made it a nail, you made it an email. That photo should also appear on your website or on your donate page so people know it's the same thing. You should tell a little emotional story, very, very short. And there's some other information you should provide, but you shouldn't give people a million choices. It shouldn't be daff and stocks and crypto and in memory of an in tribute of and I want to give to these 16 funds, especially not at the end of the year. You might add one special thing in for a particular campaign that you have.  But do not provide 100 million choices for me to have to wait through to get my money, get my money then educate me about other ways that I might give. And that's the thing I've learned from you again like not not just big bold and above the fold but the other one is ask think report repeat and you just make that cadence seems so simple Laura and you know of course we know that but we try I feel to just make it so complex. Donate page should not be a catch all for the year. Your donate page at the end of the year in particular should be as slim as it needs to be to remind people why they love giving to you and to collect the donation. Yeah, let your other communications do that heavy lift, not your donate page. I love it. Now one of the magical things that I can't wait to have you share with us is the concept of the descending gift strings. That sounds pretty sexy, but it's pretty simple. It's either top to bottom, or left to right, you see folks start with the largest gift amount. And Julia, you said that's really, that's something that's really common in retail tell us. Yeah, yeah, pricing. Yeah, you know in terms of pricing because I you know it makes the cheaper handbag bag look more desirable when you talk chart out with the one that's super expensive. It has the opposite effect. It makes you feel like a cheapskate. First you get sticker shot you're like wow they're asking me for $5,000. I'm an individual donor. Well that's way more than I did last time.  Instead, conventional wisdom says use an ascending gift string to say yeah that's my gift amount that I, I gave last time that makes me feel real comfortable. I know I can't give this amount, but maybe I'll land somewhere in the middle because it's been a really great year.  I can do a little better this year, so that ascending gift amount has positive emotions while a descending one has negative. That is fascinating to me and now I'm thinking you know when I fill out a form either in person or online, you certainly do want to feel like a champion. Yeah, it seems like they use the descending. It almost seems like well what is my gift going to even do. Yeah, you'd like you've, you've narrowed the impact versus like wow I just you know going the other direction. Yeah, right now you know everyone's budget is feeling the effects of inflation. Yeah, you're better off to give people a positive emotion about the changes that they're making and allow them to better deal it a little bit and say, yeah I can give a little more this year because the need is so great. Now one of the things we talked about in the green room green room chatter is how some organization organizations are starting to adopt artificial intelligence right. And so can we and should we do the same ascending so if we're using AI and our donor forms should we then have that ascending as opposed to descending in that form. Are you saying that's too much for the online. No, I think. Well, number one, congratulations to digital for catching up to mail, you know, you can always have custom gift amounts on your reply slip. So I love that AI is now taking the data it has crunching it and making it work for nonprofits, as opposed to those static gift amounts. But now I think the same emotional journey that we take our, our donors on is the same. They need to not have sticker shock off the first off the top, and then come down to the thing that's cheaper. They need to feel good about their donation and say, yeah I can do a little better this time. I love that. I love it. And again, when you're talking about this before we go on to our next question with you, you're saying really no more than three levels. No, I'm saying, I'm saying that you should, you should not be providing so many options, their donation form. No, I think the most nonprofits offer somewhere in the neighborhood of four to six options with one of those being we're talking about gift strings. One of those being other. But I have seen, there is a nonprofit whose example is on my website, anonymized of course, that offers people 10 different gift amounts, counting down from $5,000. 10 is too many amounts for me to consider. I can consider four or five gift amounts plus another. It makes me think of the cheese factory. Right, we go eat at the cheese factory or any, any other restaurant that just has a horrible amount of menu options and it's like, where do I start. You know, absolutely. And, you know, the best gift to raise the best gift to raise actually tie those amounts to real impact in your, your organization. You know, you know, the cost of a door is going to help a child study, or is going to give a hard working parent privacy for a habitat group, for example, or the cost of a meal. The best buttons allow you to have that kind of conversation with your donor and not just offer, you know, not just offer pricing like a retail site. Right. I love it. Now one of the last things that you talked about is failure to provide decision stage content. Well, we don't want to fail so you got to tell us what this means. That's some fancy marketing talk isn't it. This is really good. I need to know this. So are you all, are you all familiar with the marketing funnel. Yes. Yeah, yeah, this guy here. Yeah, this guy here. Yeah, at the top is awareness, and there's consideration, then there's decision content. And then the second page is, you want people to make a decision on a page where this has already occurred consideration has already occurred, right, but too many nonprofits put put homework on their donate pages. I've got a video that I'm supposed to watch. I've got to read frequently asked questions. I've got to read the history of their organization. No, no, no, you may that's awareness content. That's consideration content. Yeah, give me content that allows me to complete my transaction. So, what kind of content is that. Well, people have questions right before they're going to make a they have objections, and they have questions right before they're going to make a decision. Some of those questions are, is this a real nonprofit. Where is my money going to go. Is this secure, this looks a little hinky, because sometimes nonprofits, maybe this is hinky security. Content, do you think you could put on a donate page that would answer those questions, ladies, what are your thoughts. Well, I'm definitely going to say our EIN number so our 501C number. Yep. And if you're in Arizona, your Arizona charitable tax credit number. Yes, we're a real nonprofit, and somebody recognize that by giving us an EIN or a tax credit number. What are some other things that that would make you feel better. Well, I think of like the logos that might come from some of the guard. Yeah, watchdog. You know, let's say, you know, that we're part of this and maybe even a logo that might say we're a part of this coalition or we're, you know, something that is. How about a gold, how about a gold style of transparency by one of the watchdogs. Yes, right. Right, I feel good about that. That's third party validation. Yeah, or what for what we're doing so those are some good things people have business bureau people have Chamber of Commerce accolades that they get all of those things make me feel better that you're a reputable nonprofit. The question is, and I'm not sure, because you mentioned something earlier, do we want to provide click through links or no because we don't want them to go anywhere else. Yeah, I wouldn't like those seals. Okay, don't do that. Good question. The only thing what the one thing that a couple things that I would provide for people to click. Yes, you should have a logo on this page. And yes, it should go back to your homepage. That's one thing that should be there. That should probably be the only thing in your header. And yes, you should have a link. So if someone has questions, do not provide frequently asked questions on this page. They should be able to contact a real human and give, you know, give in the way that is most comfortable to them. If for some reason this donated page has spooked to them. So yes, provide a person's name, provide a development email address, provide a phone number where they can go. Because remember, your average donor is probably 65 years old, and they still use the telephone. Yeah, they're going to call. They may not know who Alanis Morissette is. But they do know how to use the telephone, and they do know how to make a donation. That's right. That's awesome. So I'm kind of taken aback in that my sense of it is that we have to just like tell our story and jam everything onto the page and get all the information out. Your whole thing is to say no, reduce the clutter, put these this information on other parts of your website, but make that ultimate process. Simple. And then to track that because that number that you gave us 17% conversion rate. How do we stay in business and provide, you know, our communities with what what our mission vision and values are at that rate. Well, you know, online giving is only 12% of all nonprofit revenue. So it's, it's 12% it is growing that is exciting. But think about how much larger that number would be if we had a streamlined emotional donation donation page that made it easy to give and didn't provide those blockers. So think about this in the restaurant world because we say, you know, if you have a bad experience you tell everyone, well imagine walking into a restaurant and then leaving, like what if we're losing 80 plus percent of our patrons. Right. Like as soon as we walk into the door, they see the menu that's full of options and they're like, I'm just overwhelmed. I've got to leave like, that's what's happening on our donate site. And, you know, I don't want to overwhelm the folks who are listening to this who are hardworking at nonprofits, it's been a tough few years. You don't know to need to do all the changes that I recommended. And in some ways, it can be very challenging to do that because some people's websites, they don't even have the ability to change them in house. They have to go to an outside contractor. You can make small changes in the right direction that make an optimized simple emotional way for people to transact and invest in your nonprofit. You can make some small changes, particularly before year end. I'm not saying that because I certainly don't want anyone leaving the show right and thinking, Oh my gosh, I'm doing it all wrong. I just need to quit my job. You know, who do I think I am. But that big bold above the fold, that's what I want to drill down because I really do think that that is a simple. Let's make that bold on the top right corner. Let's, you know, create it so that it's, you know, it's there. It's, it's not missed. And let's also make sure that our content on our donate page, ask them to take action. That's what we're doing. And those are, those are the two that I would say, look at that before year end. Yeah, reduce the friction just make it easy and delightful to give. Don't give them homework. Don't make them have to swap out glasses to see. Where is it on the website. I'm only one years old and I have multiple pairs of glasses tasks. Don't have to do that make it easy to find, make it seamless to give and make me feel good about my donation. And then you can do some of all those other things later in your other communications. For someone who really is a direct male nerd. I got to give it to you my friend you're a digital nerd too so congratulations, you are just, you're amazing I love when we can have, you know, representatives from a Bayhaw so Laura Ingalls has joined us today co owner and CEO of Bayhaw Solutions, her business partner is Brianna, we've talked about her quite a bit as well.  I think you're wicked funny so thank you. Great this is a really important time as we lead into this final push for the year and so check out a Bayhaw Solutions calm. So many wonderful points and ideas. Again if we haven't met or you want to be reminded who we are. I'm Julia Patrick CEO of the American nonprofit Academy. I've been joined by my trusty co host Jarrett Ransom CEO of the Raven group, known as the nonprofit nerd but I always like to say she's my nonprofit. So yeah, that's right pull those glasses up. We want to thank all of our presenting sponsors who are with us day in and day out. The nonprofit Academy your part time controller nonprofit nerd fundraising Academy at National University staffing boutique and nonprofit thought leader. These are the folks that are with us day in and day out. Many who have been with us since day one, which is actually just amazing. And so we want to make sure that we extend our gratitude and connect our sponsors to our viewers and our listeners. Okay, I'm telling you Jarrett, I, I'm overwhelmed, but I have a path. Yeah, yeah marching orders. Yeah, yeah, I'm not so intimidated by the concept and in thinking, Oh my God, we got to pull down this website and start all over. I love Laura's approach and it's very doable. Just always be learning. Don't set it and forget it. Just look at that donation page a few times type of the year and at the end of the year, ask yourselves, how can we make it even simpler and more delightful for our donors to give. That's right. I love it. Well you have been a delight. This has really been powerful and magical for us. And as we end every episode of the nonprofit show, we want to remind ourselves, all of our viewers and all of our listeners, stay well so you can do well. We'll see you back here tomorrow everyone.


Hey, Lisa Kearney here with FanDuel. Today, we're going to talk about moneyline bets. Moneyline bets are as simple as it gets. All you're betting on is which team will win the game. That's it. We're just talking about wins and losses here. Just like any other bet, there's a favorite who has a higher chance to win but comes with a lower payout and an underdog who has a lower chance to win but with a higher payout. So let's say you're feeling pretty confident that the bills, who are our favorite here in this example, are going to win the game. All you have to do is tap your bet and enter how much you want to wager. If you're right and the bills win, then you win. It's as simple as that. And now you're ready to win some money on the Moneyline.


Hello and welcome to the International Daily Randoff with People's Dispatch where we bring you some of the top stories from across the globe. Let's take a look at today's headlines. Families of Beirut blast victims who would protest amid worsening crisis in Lebanon. Activists condemned the high government's decision to halt COVID testing for migrant workers. Thousands of farmers observed strike to protest falling prices of produce in Ecuador and finally we bring you an excerpt from a conversation between Vijay Krashad and Roger Waters of the US embargo on Cuba. In our first tour, we go to Lebanon where hundreds of people held a protest in the capital city Beirut on July 13th. Most of them were family members of the victims of the 2020 blast at the Beirut port. Demonstrators marched to the residence of the caretaker and here minister Muhammad Fermi. They demanded an end to what they call an obstruction of the investigation into the explosion. Over 200 people were killed after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate being stored at the port ignited. The explosion injured at least another 6,500 people. The material had been improperly stored and many blamed officials for keeping it at the port. The judge investigating the blast Tariq Bitar had requested that the immunity granted to senior politicians and security chiefs be lifted. Among them were the head of the general security, Maj. Abbas Ibrahim and head of state security Major General Tony Saliba. However, Judge Bitar's legal request was denied by Interior Minister Fermi. A procession was held outside his residence on Tuesday as protesters scared empty coffins and held a symbolic burial. They also threw tomatoes and water bottles at the ward. Killer was spray painted on the building. Right police soon gathered in the area as some protesters attempted to cross the metal gates. They were severely beaten with batons and tear gas, was deployed to disperse the crowd. Tuesday's protests took place at a time when Lebanon is facing a severe economic and political crisis. The country is without the proper government and they have been cut to food, medicine and fuel subsidies. White spread power outages lasting over 21 hours a day have also been reported. The currency has lost over 90% of its value and the prices of fuel have increased by over 30%. The import dependent country is also facing acute shortages of necessary medicines and outpatient, healthier facilities are at risk of shutting down. Rights activists have condemned a decision taken by the Thai government to suspend COVID-19 testing for migrant workers. In the letter dated July 5th, the Ministry of Labor cited scarce resources and personnel as the reasons behind the move as per reports over 30,000 high-risk workers in the Bangkok region will now be left without any assistance. Most of these workers are from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. The migrant working group coalition has argued that the government's decision will encourage discrimination and inequality. The authorities have previously also been criticized for negligence in the handling of the pandemic. Amid rising cases last month, the government imposed a general lockdown on construction sites and 575 worker camps over 80,000 workers were effectively stranded in these places in Bangkok for 30 days. Moreover, while workers placed under compulsory quarantine are supposed to be paid, they are only eligible to receive 50% of their wages. According to human rights watch workers are often already in debt due to the recruitment fees they have to pay. The MWG coalition has also stated that over 1 million workers have been taken out of the government register during the pandemic. This makes it even more difficult for them to access any remedies or aid. While many workers have left the country, most still remain stranded in containment zones and camps. Over 47,000 workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos tested positive for COVID-19 in Bangkok between April 1 and July 12. Activists are now calling for proactive testing, broader vaccination access and proper registration to ensure that migrant workers are covered under social security policies. After we go to Ecuador, where around 8,000 farmers observed a strike earlier this week, Manana and rice producers blocked roads in several places on Monday to protest the fallen prices of their products. They also argued that President Gwilar Mulasso had not complied with agreements made during his campaign. These included a minimum support price while agricultural produce and cost controls were necessary inputs. This strike was held despite warnings from the president that protesters would be jailed. According to the National Corporation of Peasants, Mulasso has promised to set the support price for rice at $35, meanwhile the price of the sack of rice fell from $29 to $22 during the pandemic. Farmers have stated that these prices are not even enough to cover the costs of production, especially with rising prices of fuel. The National Federation of Banana Producers of Ecuador has also stated that they currently receive only $2 per box of bananas for export. Farmers are demanding the reopening of national storage units and stricter controls against the illegal smuggling of produce. Following Monday's strike, the National Movement of Peasants met with government officials in Gaya's. The organization announced on July 13 that the strike had been temporarily suspended following agreements with the government. These include guarantees for fair prices and provision of agricultural machinery and seeds. Other demands include the setting up of field warehouses in rice producing areas so that grass can be stored and commercialized. And for a final story, we go to Cuba, where the crippling embargo imposed by the U.S. has led to serious shortages of food and medicines despite having developed 5 COVID-19 vaccines. The country does not have the millions of syringes needed to administer them. Cuba's economy has suffered under the U.S. blockade, which has been in place for over six decades. It has cost the country over $147 billion so far. Protests against the ongoing crisis were held in several areas over the weekend. However, President Díaz Canel warned against those who were seeking to take advantage of the current situation. Meanwhile, people also took to the streets to hold protests in support of the government and the Cuban Revolution. Cuba has also received support from leaders across Latin America amid increasing calls to end the blockade. Here is a conversation between historian Vijay Prashad and musician Roger Waters on the situation in Cuba. Fidel Castro and the Revolution and the people of Cuba, the people of Cuba in their steadfast struggle, not only have resisted the attempts by the United States and some of them crude, invasions, the Bay of Pigs being the most notable example, but they have spread their enduring love for their brothers and sisters all over the globe in small and large ways. Whether it was in West Africa, where they actually sent troops back in 1970 whenever it was. So I don't know, so Cuba has been immensely important and now, of course, a lot of the medical help in the COVID pandemic that has been going over the world came from Cuba because they train a lot of doctors and they train doctors with big hearts. I'm not saying they're the only country. There are doctors sans frontier from all kinds of Western countries as well. But in Cuba, it's enshrined almost in their constitution that this is who they are and this is what they do. But the fact of the matter is, as you know, and as you said, that Cuba has stood as a beacon of hope against really suffocation. And during the pandemic, the United States government has intensified the blockade. Trump put 243 new gripping sanctions against Cuba. And so there's been a real social impact of these sanctions, this blockade. At the same time, a wave of the pandemic has kicked in on the island. And there was some protests on Sunday against the situation. Immediately, the US government said that, yes, go out on the streets and overthrow the government. They attempted to make it into a rebellion. Biden made a statement saying, go and fight for freedom, fight for freedom. And the Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canal went out on the streets and met people and said, look, we are facing a serious challenge, but let's not convert a social problem into a political problem. And in effect, around the world, there's a lot of confusion because people are saying, oh, maybe the government needs to be overthrown.  Maybe the government should be overthrown, not 11 million people, but people outside like Biden deciding like the Pope, which government should be excommunicated? Yeah, well, they've almost had their way in many countries. So they've succeeded in the Philippines and in Honduras and probably now again in Guatemala, but they have failed in Peru and they have failed in Nicaragua and they have failed in Venezuela with the weight of the IMF and the treasury and the printing of dollars and the blah, blah, blah. But they have failed to overthrow the will of the people. Hopefully they will fail in Chile as well in the upcoming presidential elections there and in the rewriting of the Constitution to give the people of Chile more of a chance of developing a society more like Cuba. And that's all the time we have for today. In this episode of The International Daily Roundup for more stories and videos visit our website www.peoplecistach.org, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank you for watching.


Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another one. If you're new to this channel, I am Gold Penny on the new car truck, SCV reviews on YouTube. And today we're in the new 2024 Mercedes-Benz C300, courtesy of Mercedes-Benz of Hagerstown in Hagerstown, Maryland. For more information on their inventory, please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. So today we're here in this one because there is new safety and new features overall for the 2024 C300. Excellent styling as always. And this is actually the ninth year in a row. I will be reviewing the C-Class. That's pretty cool. That means I'm getting old, but ultimately in this video, we'll be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering field, ride quality, sound system, exhaust clip, all that fun stuff. So having said all of that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so as you can imagine, there are a couple of different configurations for the 2024 C-Class. First one being the rear-wheel drive version starting at $46,950, which is a $2,100 bump actually from the 2023 model year. And then there is the four-matic all-wheel drive version going for $48,950. But regardless of the configuration that you go with, the power plant on the C300 is going to be the same. Powering the beast is a two-liter turbocharged inline four cylinder with a mild hybrid system, putting out 255 horsepower at 5,800 RPM, 295 pound-feet of torque coming in at 2,000 RPM, power being sent to rear-wheels or all-wheels. There were nine-speed automatic with paddle shifters, which you guys know we will, of course, be testing out here in a little bit. But zero to 60 time coming in at approximately six seconds flat, that's plenty respectable on paper there. MPG numbers coming into 25 in the city, 36 on the highway for the rear-wheel drive, 24 city, 33 then on the highway for the all-wheel drive taking premium unleaded fuel. And so before we do any kind of fun acceleration test here in our C-Class, one of the dimension you guys to drive modes, it's going to be a button-label dynamic that stands for Dynamic Select. Just press that button just below the infotainment screen that's going to give you eco, comfort, sport, and individual, adjusting things like the shift points and throttle response and the steering sensitivity. So now I haven't got all of that out of the way. Let me go ahead and put it in that sports driving mode there like I just did. Let's go ahead and find it straight away. Let's put the paddle shifters and acceleration here to the test. I want to see how quickly the paddle shifter is going to react for us. And they also want to see how quickly we can get this one here up to speed. All right, we're in first gear, go. Instant, instant. All right, two things, one really, really good thing. That was an instant acceleration. You know why? It's not just a turbocharged four-cylinder, it has a mild hybrid system. This is something I gripe on with so many of the turbocharged four-cylinders out there. You almost always get turbo lag, but with a mild hybrid system, it's instant. It feels like a naturally aspirated acceleration from the get-go. So I absolutely love that. Acceleration is breathtaking on this thing. It's not AMG quick, but it is pretty darn quick. You're not gonna have any issues emerging off to the highway, I'll just put it that way. Paddle shifters, there is a bit of a delay to them. So I want to say that as well. So while the paddle shifters are there, and I do appreciate that because you can use them for do a little bit of engine braking. So if we're to be snowing outside, let's say as it often does here in Western Maryland, just simply do a little bit of downshifting using the paddle shifters rather than actually hitting the brakes kind of decreases that risk of you sliding off the road. So they're good for that, but there is a delay to them. But the acceleration, it's crazy. I love the mild hybrid system. That really does a very good job on this thing. But anyways, to go along with that acceleration as always, braking is equally important. So as expected, you will find four-wheel ventilated disc brakes that do come standard on the C-Class. As far as that succeeds, you're stopping distance scales that comes in an incredible 112 feet. That is a pure sports sedan number right there. You gotta love it. Typically with sedans, you get the lower 120, so 112 feet, that's absolutely amazing. So let's go ahead and hit the brakes since nobody's behind us. Let's test out the braking feel. Yeah, it's not bad. It's not the very firmest braking feel that I've ever tested, but it's pretty darn good. So this thing definitely instantly brings you to a stop. So I absolutely love that as well. Touching on suspension and handling.  But here's the best part, you guys, an adaptive damping suspension. What is that? I'm glad you asked. So what that does is it monitors each shock absorber individually, not only adjusting to the road of perfection, it's giving you a smoother ride, but it's also gonna tighten up that suspension during heavy cornering, giving you better handling as well. So it does give you the best of both worlds, and what most people are gonna notice with adaptive damping suspensions is that it's a much smoother ride than if you were to not have an adaptive damping suspension. That's the most noticeable difference to me, at least after driving 800-plus cars. You can notice the difference. It is a much smoother ride. So having said that, as far as ride quality goes, although Hagerstown roads are super smooth and they just kind of repaved these maybe a year ago, it's been perfectly fine. It's absolutely amazing ride quality here in the C-Class. There's definitely no issues there. As far as steering feel goes, I still have it in that sport driving mode because I like this driving mode. And yeah, the steering feel is definitely on the firmer side of things. It's a nice weight to it. Definitely instantly points you in the direction that you wanna go if I could talk. Let me just do an experiment here. Let me put it in comfort driving mode. It does loosen up that steering feel. So it's a much looser feel to the steering. So I guess it gives something for everybody, which is a good thing, right? So as far as cabin noise goes, as we're going 50 miles per hour right now, let you guys be the judge. This is a road mic we're talking about here. So it should be picking up on things. And I honestly think it's been perfectly fine. But if you did want the most serene cabin available, there is a package for that. That package is the Acoustic Glass package that goes for $150. That not only gives you an acoustic laminated front windshield but also acoustic laminated front side glass as well. So that's gonna be the very most serene cabin that you could possibly get if you wanted to go that route. Then touching on visibility, looking at my rear view mirror here, I will say the second row headrests definitely are up right now. I could have pushed them down. I probably should push them down. So if I did push them down, I think visibility would be just fine. They are up right now though. But typically in the shape of this particular sedan, you're not gonna have any issues of rear visibility, but touching on full visibility, rain-sensing windshield wipers do come standard on the C-Class. So whenever the C-300 detects any kind of mist or rainfall, it's gonna automatically turn on this windshield wipers for you there. So it's kind of like automatic headlights, just one less thing you gotta worry about there. And a head up display projected upon your windshield is available as an option as well. But that pretty much runs out the performance segment of this review, guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2024 Mercedes-Benz C-300. All right, so here she is, you guys. The new 2024 Mercedes-Benz C-300 finished in polar white. In case you were curious of the exact exterior color name that we had on this one with us here today. But as always, let's go ahead and start with where the C-Class is made. Taking a look at the bin, first character is the letter W, indicating that the new C-Class is built and assembled in Germany, as it should be. But let's go ahead and start up front on this one. You will find a vertical slats finished in matte black, coming standard for that front grille. However, there are some AMG line packages, and that will give you a diamond block front grille, which is traditionally what Mercedes-Benz is known for, although this front grille looks perfectly fine, I will say that. But anyways, AMG line packages go for around $3,400, more or less. It's also gonna give you more aggressive styling throughout the entire vehicle, not just the front, but the sides and the back as well then. But to the sides though, LED headlights do come standard with LED daytime running lights and the automatic feature. So when it starts to get dark in the night, headlights will turn on automatically for you there, but also automatic high beams coming standard. So if you have your high beams on at night and it sets the vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's gonna automatically dim them back to low beams, then when that vehicle is gone, it's gonna automatically bounce it back up to high beams for you there. So that is definitely nice as well. But I did wanna also mention there is an adaptive front lighting system. Adaptive digital light headlights is what it exactly is called. That goes for $1,100. That essentially not only is gonna give you brighter illumination at night, but the adaptive part, meaning when you're going around to bend at night, the headlights are going to swivel based on the direction of your steering angle. Better help illuminating what is around that bend so you're less likely hit a possum or a squirrel or a cyclist or an alien or whatever the case. So that is pretty cool as well.  That's one of the changes. They come standard across the board now and you guys can see that found on the corners there. So that is gonna be in the back of course as well. But that is new for 2024, but that pretty much runs out the front end of this one. Let's not go ahead and make our way to the side. All right, so now since we are around to the side of this one, chrome or gloss black windows around. So do you come standard?  Chrome accents found on those door handles that come standard across the board. Take a look at the side mirrors. They are body colored power adjustable side mirrors. You will get LED integrated turd signals as well. And believe it or not, they are power folding coming standard. So you gotta love that as well. So when you lock this one up, they're gonna automatically fold in. When you unlock it, they're gonna automatically fold back out. And then they will be finished in gloss black actually with the AMG line package there. But let's take a look down at the wheel setup, 18 inch aluminum alloy is coming standard, 18 inch AMG specific alloys for the AMG line. And then 18 inch and 19 inch wheel designs are available to really customize it and make it your own. Still what I also mentioned, there's gonna be AMG specific side skirts with that AMG line package as well. But anyways, that pretty much rounds off the side profile. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the back. All right, so now since we are around to the back of this one, first thing I wanna mention is up top, there is no shark fin antenna on just about every other manufacturer out there. It is on there, but Mercedes-Benz went with the super clean look with completely removing it. So I personally absolutely love that. But rear spoiler, if you wanted it, that goes for $350 that is available in body colored or gloss black, your choice there. LED tail lights do come standard for added illumination at night. And just below it all, you will find what looks to be maybe some exhaust cutouts, but the exhaust is actually hidden down underneath below. And it is dual exhaust outlets. So I do believe you guys know what we have to do next. As always here is that exhaust clip. All right, so now since we are around to the back of the C-Class here, when it comes to opening that rear trunk, a power trunk actually does come standard across the board. So you gotta love that. There's a button on the trunk itself. There's a button on the key fob and the driver side door then as well. But once I've been up, cargo capacity comes in at 12.6 cubic feet. If that was not enough space, there is a 40, 20, 40 split, meaning the seats fold down very, very flat, giving you a bunch of extra space then if you needed it. But there is a button in the cargo area to actually fold down those rear seats. So I like seeing that as well. And actually there's more in the back of the C-Class than you typically find on just about every other sedan out there.  That's an SUV feature. You also have four chrome plated tie-down anchors. That's also an SUV feature, but very rarely found on sedans. Got some netted storage. And then if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor, another SUV feature being a ton of in-floor storage, which is pretty darn cold to see there as well. But then making our way up to the rear legroom that comes in at 36 inches. Even for reference, I mean even six feet tall. This is me sitting behind my own driving position there. Rear center armrest with the tablet or phone holder, whatever you want to call it, that does come standard. Rear ventilation also coming standard. There's a little bit of storage underneath of that rear ventilation. But the one thing I would have loved to have seen here in the C-Class are charging ports. So if I'm buying a C-Class, I want my kids to stay charged up in the back seats. That's just me. But then making our way up to the front seats, power adjustable front seats do come standard memory settings. For not just the driver, but the passenger as well for up to three different drivers and passengers. So that's something you don't always see for the passenger side at least. Heated front seats do come standard MBtex upholstery coming standard as well. And by the way, this is finished in Sienna Brown in case you were interested. Leather seating goes for $1,620. Ventilated front seats go for 450. Overall, seat comfort has been completely fine in my short little test drive here today. So absolutely no issues when it comes to that. But then take a look at the steering wheel. It is anti-telescoping. It is leather wrapped. It will be heated for an additional $250. And overall the 102 grips are definitely bolstered on the thicker side. Nothing like a BMW M grips or even Mercedes AMG grips or anything like that. But it definitely felt nice for me at least. So then making our way to the startup. Let me start by showing you guys the key here. All of your buttons are located on one side of the key. The Mercedes logo, that's going to be your lock button just underneath that unlock of the button to pop the rear trunk there. But it is all keyless entry with a push button starts. All I'm going to do here is simply put my front of the brake and press that engine start button located just to the left of that infotainment screen there. And so once started up, 12.3 inch digital gauge cluster does come standard. It looks absolutely amazing. And of course those gauges are completely customizable. There's a little home button found on the steering wheel controls here. And if you press that, you got different looks. There's understated, there's sport and there's classic. So I think my two favorites are probably going to be the understated and the sport. I think I like to sport the best honestly cause this thing feels like it drives like a sports head. So I like that look personally. It gives you some G-Force statistics there in the left as well. Of course you get your basics like how many miles you have left into empty. There's outside temperature, trip A, trip B. You got your RPM gauge up there and digital speedometer within the middle of everything as well. So that is definitely pretty cool. But now let's go ahead and make our way to overall interior quality. A power sunroof comes standard. However, a panoramic sunroof is available for an additional $1,000. We do have that option with us here today. So I like that. Frameless rear view mirror with home light controls wrap the three different garage doors does come standard. Dual zoom climate control, love that. 64 colors of ambient lighting, definitely love that. The wood trends is really what sets Mercedes apart for me personally. So it's got ash wood. It's got a walnut wood option. It's got a metal weave option and then a natural grain option. And so on. We have the natural grain wood with us here today. And that's one thing about Mercedes. Whenever you jump in a new car, a lot of times it has that new car smell with Mercedes and all the wood trims that they use. It's more of that new home smell when you first build a home or something like that. And that is exactly what it smells like hopping in a new Mercedes Benz because it's got that new home smell. It's so freakishly cool. I absolutely love it. But wireless phone charger is newly standard for 2024. I just want another new update for 2024 here. That's just in front of the cup holders there. So I do love to see that. Overall, this thing is finished like a Mercedes Benz as you would expect. So I personally absolutely love it. Again, the black and Sierra Brown definitely goes good together. The natural grain wood looks good. Just behind the wireless phone charger, you got a couple of cup holders, a little bit of storage there within the center armrest. Little bit of storage, not a ton of storage in there, but you do have two USB charging ports and it's actually LED lighting within that center armrest as well. So that's pretty cool. Overall, I love the interior quality. Mercedes Benz always crushes it with that. Now let's go ahead and make our way to the infotainment screen. You're gonna find an 11.9 inch portrait style color touch screen display. And yes, it is touch screen, but it does have the Hey Mercedes functionality as well. Hello, I'm Mercedes, your voice assistant. Would you like to know more about what I can do for you? That sounds wonderful. I'm sorry. Can you say that again, please? Yes, please. Okay, here we go. Whenever you want to talk to me, you can press the push to talk. All right, so yeah, that's how that works, but Bluetooth and audio streaming does come standard Android Auto Apple CarPlay. Factory navigation system is available for $650. Ambient lighting settings you can check out up there. Of course, your climate control settings as well, along with your radio information. And so when it comes to the sound systems, there's two of them here for the C-Class. The standard sound system is a front base five speaker sound system. So that's kind of on the basics out of things. If I'm being honest, like that's not a lot of speakers, but there's an optional sound system that's a 15 speaker Bermester 3D sound system with 750 watts and SiriusXM is now newly standard for 2024. So I did want to mention that as well, but that is actually the sound system that we have with us here today. So let's go ahead and turn on the radio, see what we got playing today and let's test out the clarity of this one. All right, so that was FM radio for whatever reason SiriusXM wasn't hooked up quite yet. So I would have loved to have tested that, but yeah, FM radio isn't the clearest, but could definitely tell there was a ton of bass coming through the sound system. So I did love that. And I'm sure the clarity would have been just fine. We actually had a decent radio station on here, but anyways, last thing I want to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen is when you do put the C-Class in reverse, you will find a really high definition rear view camera coming standard across the board. 360 degree monitor is going to be optional. Bird's Eye View is also optional and a parking assistance also optional. But that is always is going to lead us into safety. And so first, let me start by saying IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus, which is the very highest designation given by IIHS. That pretty much does it all right there. But front side, side current airbags do come standard drivers, knee airbag up front as well. In the back you're going to have latch AKA lower anchors to tethers your children for the rear car seats, rear child door locks, rear side impact airbags go for $700 if you wanted to go that route, but also coming standard on the C-Class will be attention assist, active brake assist, adaptive braking technology, Mercedes-Benz emergency call service. So if you were to hit somebody or somebody were to hit you, the vehicle is actually going to call you and ask you if you need an ambulance or the police or whatever the case. So I love that blind spot assist with exit warning as well. Then there's a driver assistance package that goes for $1,700. That gives you adaptive cruise control, emergency stop assist, lane change assist, lane keep assist, speed limit assist, active steering assist, evasive steering assist and root base speed adaptation then as well. So overall, when it comes to my final thoughts of the C-Class sedan, excellent interior quality. It really is second to none. Mercedes-Benz always crushes it when it comes to their interior quality. I personally love it. Pretty darn quick as well. So like I said, because of that mild hybrid system, there was no turbo lag whatsoever in the C-300. Instant acceleration, so you got to love that. Excellent braking, 60-0 and 112 feet is really darn good. As far as room for improvement goes, safety should be standard. So that driver assistance package it gives you $1,700 like adaptive cruise control. Like all of those safety features typically come standard on let's say a Toyota Corolla. So I don't know why Mercedes-Benz likes to charge a little more for all the stuff that comes standard on just about every other manufacturer out there right now. So I really don't know. But anyways, I would love to have some rear charging ports back for the rear passengers as well. It's another thing. Rear side impact airbags. I like that they're available for $700. But having said that, they come standard on the new Toyota Corolla LE, which is what a $21, $22,000 car. So again, Mercedes-Benz with the safety being optional for some reason. And that kind of leads me into my last point that the C-Class can get quite pricey, pretty darn quick because of all those options. Now, there's a good side to that. It really allows you to personalize it making your own because there's plenty of options available but it can tech up the price pretty quick. Anyways, let me know what you guys think of the C-300 in the comments section below and that is about it for this one. You guys, thank you so much for watching. Feel free to follow me on social media if you wanted to see what's coming next on the channel before it gets to YouTube. Be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button if you're new car reviews because that is what we do here on this channel after all. Do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay Gold.


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