During his senior year at the University of Kentucky, Jacob Dietz made it his mission to raise $25,000 for Students Helping Honduras. He and his classmates wanted to build a school in La Lima, Honduras, where 400 children lacked a middle school building.

Jacob asked himself: “Do I have the ability and time and self-discipline to do this?” It all seemed daunting. The previous year, they had raised $11,000—less than half of what they hoped to raise this year.

He called up his SHH chapter at the university for a meeting. For him, the group was “a team in the utmost sense.” They studied and discussed how other chapters had succeeded in different cities. A few days later, they decided on an event that had been carried out in New York and Maryland. They were going to organize a gala to raise $25,000 in one night.

Jessica Schilling, a fellow student at Kentucky, worked alongside Jacob as the co-organizer. The two had gone to school together since kindergarten. But for Jacob, he would have never imagined such a partnership with Jess. In fact, he never talked to her when they were kids. “Jess was always the smartest student in the grade. I failed 4th grade math,” he said. A shared mission turned them into an unstoppable duo.

The two of them spent hours handwriting invitation letters. They drove around endlessly, talking to businesses to find sponsors. They faced one rejection after another. They created videos for social media but they kept stumbling over their words in front of the camera. When things felt overwhelming, Jacob closed his eyes and imagined the night of the event where all his friends would be there. His parents who planned on missing work to be there. His brother Josh who had tirelessly helped him that semester.

When they paid the down payment to reserve the venue, they knew there was no turning back. One challenge after another awaited Jacob and his team. Guests waited until the last minute to register. They found typos in the posters they had printed at Staples. A video Jacob had spent hours on crashed on the morning of the event. He had to decide, “Do I put the work back in? Or do I scrap it?”

Did Jacob and his team prevail? Find out how the night unfolded by listening to this unbelievable podcast episode:

  • Listen to it on iTunes or Stitcher, and hit the subscribe button to download future episodes automatically.
  • Stream by clicking here.
  • Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”

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Jacob Dietz Show Notes

  • On the day of the podcast interview, Jacob had a neurobiology exam and a workout session at the gym
  • During his freshman year, he met Calvin Hong from SHH at the University of Kentucky at the campus involvement fair
  • It was on his second trip to Honduras (SHH Leadership Week) that Jacob got truly excited about Students Helping Honduras
  • Jacob and Jess began thinking about which guests to invite for the Brick By Brick
  • The chapter had raised $11,000 the previous year
  • They raised up to $1,000 per day canning
  • Jacob was inspired by Alex and Zeke’s Brick By Brick
  • Jacob and Jess attended the same school together since kindergarten
  • They booked a venue in northern Kentucky. They knew the owner of the pavilion.
  • They booked the venue 2.5 months before the event
  • Jacob wanted an event that would bring everyone together for an evening of fun, celebration, motivation, and determination to reach the goal
  • For Jacob, SHH is a big team
  • Jacob wasn’t sure he was going to have the time to undertake such a massive event
  • He was full of doubts while making the invitations. Would he be able to keep up with his school work?
  • “Do I have the ability and time and self-discipline?”
  • Jacob ordered 300 invites off of vistaprint.com to explain the details of the event. The letter was very formal. They still hadn’t figured out all the event details when the invites were sent out.
  • Putting the down payment for the venue gave them the no-going-back motivation
  • Jacob and his team had broken ground at the school at Julio Reyes Caballero
  • The community members were amazed that Jacob was vegan
  • Julio Reyes Caballero told SHH that they needed a middle school. Many kids drop out without one
  • Jacob reached out to monetary and in-kind sponsorships and donations
  • He created a sponsorship sheet using Canva and created 4 tiers: $150 donor, $500 donor, $1,000 donor, $1,000+ donor
  • Bigger donors or corporate sponsors got special perks and were mentioned at the event
  • About 5-10 members form the University of Kentucky SHH chapter helped organize the event and got the word out on their social media
  • Nearly every week for two weeks Jacob and Jess drove an hour north meet with business owners in person
  • They had a personal connection to 75% of the businesses they approached
  • Some businesses reached out to them on social media
  • One Friday evening Jacob and Jess were facing many rejections
  • When things got tough, he imagined the night of the gala where all his supporters would be there
  • A business that they personally knew didn’t follow through on their promise
  • The staff at the venue recommended the catering company
  • They made sure to have vegan-friendly options
  • It took them 2.5 hours to decide on the food and drinks menu
  • They decided to go with a nicer food option and tab the beer and wine
  • 160 guests showed up
  • There were two tiers for the tickets: $75 or $115 (VIP tickets where they got a cocktail hour before the event)
  • Jacob’s mom made the flower centerpieces
  • The original 400 invite letters were critical to the marketing. They were friends from high school, coaches, friends of parents
  • Jacob and Jess wrote personal messages into the majority of the invite letters
  • They spent 3 hours per day for 1.5 weeks to finish the invite letters
  • They timed the big social media announcement for the event details right when the letters were sent out
  • For an entire week, both Jacob and Jess posted each day to explain why they were organizing the event
  • Jacob and Jess made an awesome video to talk about the event. It kicked off the campaign. They had booked a study room in the library to film. They were stumbling over their words in front of the camera. After a while, they relaxed and made the last take really good
  • It took them 2-3 hours to film and another 3 hours to edit
  • The 5-minute video they showed at the event took Jacob 12 hours to make
  • They spent 2 hours per day for two weeks connecting with people over the phone, text messaging, Facebook, etc.
  • They used Eventbrite to create the online registration page for the event. It took them about 45 minutes to set it up
  • Family members were first to buy the tickets
  • Jess’s mom was the first ticket buyer
  • 2.5 weeks before the weekend, they had accumulated 20 auction baskets already. But they only had 70 tickets sold out of a goal of 300 tickets. They got worried and doubtful during the stagnation
  • They started to go back to their Facebook messaging
  • “It was daunting.”
  • “I started having those doubts again.”
  • “Should we have done this?”
  • They kept everyone motivated and got back on track
  • 160 people came to the event
  • The night before, they’re doing homework and getting the silent auction items ready while figuring out what the event was going to be all about. They took a step back.
  • “It’s going to be alright,” he reminded himself.
  • “It’s not about the small details being perfect.”
  • Thoughts raced through his mind.
  • On the morning of the event, Jacob picked up all the posters for the sponsorships. They realized there was a typo in one poster. They contacted the Staples and got it reprinted at the last minute.
  • Melissa from UMD came down to help at the event
  • Jacob’s parents took a day off from work to help run the event
  • While Jacob was editing the video at 6am at a coffee shop in the morning, it crashed. He was only able to recover half of it.
  • He had to decide, “Do I put the work back in? Or do I scrap it?”
  • He decided to buckle down and redid the video
  • The video made a huge difference that night
  • They had to go pick up the brochures for the tables. Minute by minute they had tasks to complete for the event
  • The centerpieces, balloons, and 40+ baskets of silent auction items were organized
  • The silent auction baskets had: dinner for 8 with a private chef ($1,800), a dinner train, hair products, sports equipment, wine, bourbon, sports tickets, jewelry, etc.
  • Having a wide variety of silent auction items was important
  • They got lunch with Sam Slattery and Yapa who flew in for the event
  • Yapa was a guest speaker at the event
  • During those final hours before the event, Jacob would look at Jess and talk to her about how they would have never imagined that night
  • The VIP guests show up around 6:30pm
  • People are calling them to ask about details, which was adding to the pressure.
  • He had so much coffee he had to limit his caffeine intake
  • He had to get dressed and get his mindset ready
  • Jacob is a big podcast person. He listened to two episodes of the Model Health Podcast and the Minimalists
  • He also started singing the songs in the car he had heard in Honduras
  • The dress code was semi-formal and they were very clear about it on a social media post to clarify questions
  • Jacob’s dad had gone to art school so he drew a big school and wrote at the bottom: One Night. One School.
  • They explained to the guests why the event was called Brick By Brick and why every dollar was important
  • Those who donated at the event signed and plopped a brick up onto the school
  • Jacob’s brother, his girlfriends, etc. helped
  • At the event, Jacob made it his job to show the guests their passion for the project instead of worrying about the details
  • He wanted to be “present” and talk to the guests
  • He made sure it was a big team effort between all the guests and organizers
  • They gave some time for guests to mingle and have drinks
  • The salad was soon served and the 5-minute video was shown to engage the guests early on
  • Jacob’s best friend, Alec, went up and did a prayer and the official invitation
  • They spent 20 minutes on dinner and then introduced Yapa who spoke about education
  • Jacob back then had thought Yapa and Maria were two different people. LOL
  • Jacob and Jess spoke. All speeches were less than 5 minutes
  • A local Latin Dance studio came and did a bachata and merengue performance. Nobody had seen anything like it!
  • Cookies that had been donated were served for dessert
  • The rest of the night was spent dancing, mingling, participating in the silent auction
  • The Latin Dancers gave lessons
  • Collecting the money for the silent auction turned out to be harder than expected. They had to figure out who the winners were and think on their feet. They took a minute to step back and handle the situation professionally.
  • Jacob watched his brother and parents there at the event and he felt incredible seeing their dedication. Jacob’s brother had recently visited Honduras.
  • “Sometimes I would just stop and smile and realize that this is our cause that we’ve dedicated ourselves to. That commitment paid off.”
  • Jacob thanks his family and Jess’s family
  • The small things made the night what it was. E.g., the description text that accompanied the silent auction items
  • At the end, Jacob counted the donations and announced the final total. They had started the event at $17,800 and then ended up with $24,639 towards their $25,000 goal
  • “Is there any dollar laying around?” Jacob asked Jess
  • Jacob’s brother was about to donate the rest but realized he didn’t have enough money in his debit card
  • They printed out each number of the total amount, $24,639 for the team photo
  • “You couldn’t help but smile.”
  • Someone walked over and cut a check for $500 and said he was a “team player.”
  • Jacob’s theme that night was simple: team
  • They surpassed the $25,000 mark and then the next day another $1,000 came in!
  • $1,490 came from the brick donations
  • $6,400 came from the silent auction
  • The catering ended up costing $7,000 ($44 per guest). The catering company gave them a discount because they asked
  • The event reservation was $1,500
  • The total cost for the event was $9,000-$10,000
  • Jacob wishes he got the date out a little earlier
  • You don’t need more than 3 months
  • Expanding the team is important
  • Being vulnerable and asking is important
  • Jacob had never talked to Jess back in elementary school. Jacob failed 4th-grade math whereas Jess was always the smartest student in the grade
  • He never imagined such a partnership with Jess. But he always knew she had that kind of mindset
  • “It was a team in the utmost sense.”
  • They frequently bought caffeine or coffee for each other. Jacob thanks Jess
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