FIRST…breathe! Now, remember that people love to give you money!
Development professionals will say, “I don’t even have to ask! People just throw money at me.” Relationships built upon trust, deep listening and good stewardship of a giver’s investment can easily grow a wonderful, warm conversation. If fact, I am not a big fan of written proposals that simulate sales models and treat a donor like a transaction. Embracing generosity and abundance, instead of caving in to lack and fear, is the hallmark of a successful major gift relationship.
Remember – 90+ percent of your fundraising success is because of your MINDSET!
I’m half-way through the 2-day MORE Major Gifts Virtual Deep Dive with a terrific group of 40 fundraising professionals. Their testimonials to the powerful role their thinking and self-talk have played in their success was tremendous!
Here’s what I want you to be telling yourself – right now!
1. “People LOVE to Give Me MONEY!”
I wrote this jingle in 1997 and still today folks sing it to remind themselves that…..
People Love to Give Me Money, to make a difference.
People Love to Give Me Money; I’m the link to their investment.
2. “Our cause is WORTHY of people’s investment and generosity!”
You know it, but you sometimes get scared that you have to convince them – sell it. No, you really are giving them the chance to do something that gives them joy – or let’s them spread joy to others! Great stuff!
3. “I want to be sure we have enough time to accomplish the gift you want to make yet this year.”
YES – assume your donors want to give again – they do! And know they ARE busy and you are helping them get something accomplished that is important to them!
4. “I will show up for my donors!”
Little does more to foster success than just physically putting yourself in a position to receive. Get with your donors – be places where they go – manifest these amazing chance meetings in addition to the ones you carefully plan.
GET OUT THERE AND SHOW UP FOR YOUR DONORS!
Let me hear you!
“I create my Life!”
“I am liked and welcomed by my donors!”
“I get to be the difference!”
“I get to inspire generosity!”
Focus on what is good, right and well in your world. Embrace the heart of what we do. Get curious about what is most meaningful to your givers.
Oh and….”People LOVE to Give me MONEY!”
Invest in JOY®
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FIRST…breathe! Now, let’s talk about your board and year-end!
Just back from AFP LEAD. For the 500 in attendance, it was clear that leading today has some new dimensions! A shout out to my client and co-presenter, Terrance Hunter, the CEO of CFCArts in Orlando. Together we shared tips on shifting to more Effective (vs Efficient) actions for increased major giving and leadership success. AND, we took a minute to join Kathryn from AFP Global Marketing to record a few videos sharing our presentation coming up at AFP ICON April 7-9. 2024 in Toronto. Here’s more info: https://afpicon.com/
Today, let’s talk about being most effective (and still efficient) this year end working with your Board.
Your most EFFECTIVE Board Year-End Strategies – Giving and Being a Board Ambassador
There are many reasons why Board giving is important for your non-profit. People take their cue from your leadership for their own giving and participation. So, what are your steps to finish off the year with that 100% Board giving in place?
1. Review all board giving to date – who has given, what amounts and how does this feel to you in regard to their capacity.
2. Make your best guess for each board member (amount and project) right now. OR, if you aren’t clear on where their passion lies, that conversation needs to happen first.
3. Combine individual board member’s major gifts already in place or designated for a specific use.
4. Consider a project that is key to your success that the board would be especially key to fund — Perhaps a new staffing position needs a jump-start, a contractor staff position to a specific task (database research or updating), launching a new program, or bolstering the unrestricted “Excellence Fund” to provide sustainability for the year.
5. Establish a board giving goal. This goal should include gifts individually made and the group project goal. It’s not important that all board members give to the group goal – rather that all board members give. Be sure your Board Chair is clear on this.
6. Meet individually with your board chair to walk through the board year end giving plan. Have a conversation as well as to secure THEIR personal gift. If they already have a major gift pledge in place is this meeting their giving goals? Would they consider an additional gift as part of a board giving goal?
7. Do you have board members who are sincerely not able to give much? Perhaps another board member will give in their honor. (This works well with younger members who are giving a lot of volunteer time – but not able to be large financial givers.)
8. Have the Board Chair share the plan at the next Board meeting.
9. Let them share that you (ED and DOD) and the Board Chair will be setting up time to visit with each of them individually to discuss their participation.
10. HAVE FUN making the visits! AND, have a task for each board member that suits their skills and interests at the ready for these visits as well.
Sometimes it is better to go slow to go fast!
NOW, repeat after me…. “I love my life and all the lives in it!!”
Eat candy, give candy, be scary and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Pickleball! Are you addicted? My client, colleague and friend, Lisa Hurda is FULL In – like over the top passionate about Pickleball. Lisa is the Director of Advancement and Foundation for Blackhawk Technical College. She convinced me Pickleball mirrors many of the skills you need for success in major gift fundraising work. We tested this theory at the CASE Conference for Community Colleges last week in Palm Springs (where she also got in a Pickleball game or two). It was fun and I believe we shared some valuable major giving nuggets within a lively orientation to pickleball! You can see some of the feedback we received below.
Both the Conference formal sessions and conversations in the hallways embraced a familiar topic – maximizing teamwork to get the best synergies for success. Sounds like a noble goal, right? Sadly I heard the words like “toxic,” “dysfunctional, and “siloed” with folks frustrated with others who didn’t do their jobs well enough, fast enough, like THEY would or with the same dedication and focus (passion).
The President doesn’t get development. The development shop is demanding and hard to work with. Athletics goes off on its own. People operate in silos. There are too many events (or too few). The marketing team doesn’t meet deadline or use our ideas. Managing these relationships often includes well-meaning actions to force the desired result – some thinly veiled as being “helpful,” “supportive” and just “sharing best practices.”
Being a productive Squeaky Wheel.
As the saying goes, “the squeaky wheel gets oiled.’ Meaning that the squeaking will drive you nuts so you fix it! Or oil it. Here’s how it can be more productive for all involved.
Challenge: You believe you can do it better so you “share ideas”
Especially considering that many of us wear or have worn multiple hats, we probably know how to do a bit of everything. Event management, marketing, annual fund, donor relations, planning, major gifts, and so on. Some of us may even fancy our selves better or gifted or have a natural strength in…a certain area.
Solution: Stay in your lane.
Challenge. You love doing something other than your main work.
You seek out trainings in your interest or comfort area and go to sessions at conferences that are about what YOU like to do – not what you should be focusing on to better do YOUR job. Then, you share what you learn back with the person who so does want to hear from you feeling like the helpful colleague. You are not.
Solution: Focus on your OWN improvement – believe me, you can do YOUR job better.
Here’s my point – maybe all your squeaking gets you some oil – but at what price? A reputation of needing everything YOUR way? A label that you are difficult to work with? Hurting others feelings with your thinly veiled criticism?
Enter David Suson – Keynote speaker Day 2. His message was to boost your personal power. He shared we all had a moment in our lives we felt gave us a truth about ourselves – a strength. We are smart, right, nice, reliable, etc. When others make us feel like this strength is being challenged, we react – and not well.
He described tips to build personal power including:
1. Value others – this is feeling THEM walking in THEIR shoes (not you walking in their shoes)
2. Being Decisive – no one wants to follow a wishy-washy leader.
3. Getting Fearless – you gain confidence when you lose fear.
He created six phrases to repeat out loud twice daily forever. (And you know I am ALL about this sort of mindset work!)
I Am Confident
I am Decisive
I am Fearless
Be THEM in THEIR shoes
Look for the Good
There’s always a way
He put these on a band I will wear, and use, speaking these lessons night and morning as he suggests. This feels old and new to me and I’d encourage you all to check it out. Again that’s David Suson, https://davidsuson.com/ Those of you who coach with me know I am always sharing resources I feel will help you. I have my band, I’ll be getting more bands and David’s work will creep into mine.
So stop being a squeaky wheel seeking oil and instead start working on your personal power becoming a true friend and support to those in your life. Good stuff.
Invest in JOY®
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Yikes and Yippee! Say it with me, “October! November! December!”
WOW! It was SUCH A THRILL and honor to receive the Spirit of a Leader award from Crescendo Interactive, Inc in Orlando, September 20th!
Charles Schultz, Crescendo President, has remarkable clarity, ethics, and faith. This empowers Charles to surround himself with the best team, create the best products to serve us for Planned Giving success, and live a life of generosity and service. He also said years ago, “I believed something good was going to happen in my future.” Does that sound familiar?
Something Goooooooooods Gonna Happen to Me!
The award was even better because several of my current and former clients were also attending the Practical Planned Giving Conference. Speaking at their events and consulting with them has clearly benefited us both as we navigate the relationships key to our professional and personal success! Thank you! I am deeply grateful for the award – and to all of you who join me in our honorable and noble profession.
AND it inspired me to write a new song! SHINE ON! You can hear me sing it here. First time – a few hiccups. Know you’ll hear it again soon at my upcoming conference presentations! (always better in person!)
Now let’s get to it. October. November. December.
As of today, September 27, you have 95 days left in 2023. Determine now what will make you delighted on January 1, 2024.
1. Clarity is key.
What do you want to accomplish yet this year – professionally and personally? I know you – it’s a LONG list – and you MUST narrow it down to your top 3-5.
2. Control is vital.
What do you, and you alone, have control over in accomplishing your top 3-5? To be clear, you can control your conversations and actions with potential givers. You can’t MAKE them give – that is their choice. You can have every detail arranged so that the whole family will be home for Thanksgiving and well, enough said, right? You can set deadlines for YOU. You can set deadlines for others but you can’t control their response. Focus on what YOU can control.
3. Clearly define the “Must Do’s.”
Most days, there are pieces of our lives we Must Do. Care for our children, show up for key meetings, etc. Though even these can be redefined. ‘Clean the house’ – could become ‘hire a service’. You could ask about taking a passing on certain meetings for the next 3 months. I consider writing this blog a Must Do, but I could have a guest post. Consider the Must Do’s as you plan these next 3 months. Yet, make sure “must” is MUST.
4. Create certainty on why this is important to YOU.
A work-assigned goal, someone else’s deadline, family expectations for holiday gifts/visits, may not be one of YOUR most important year-end accomplishments. What is important to you? What will make you smile, satisfied and joyful on January 1, 2024?
Remember there are two key elements to your success – especially in these last 95 days. Your actions AND your relationships! The actions we take coupled with the strength of our relationships determine the results we achieve.
Actions + Relationships = Results
Knowing the right people is important. But HOW you know them, how you relate to them is even MORE important! As you move though these last 95 days ask yourself:
Do I judge this person? Do I make assumptions about this person? Do I expect things from this person? Do I let this person affect how I act? Are you constantly complaining about having too much to do? Needing more staff? That others don’t respect you?
Research has shown that people who have many strong relationships have happy, successful lives. As you plan out your next 95 days be as committed to the quality of your relationships – with your donors, your family, your colleagues – as you are to your results. Don’t sacrifice relationships to get what you want.
Take time now to reflect on the top 3-5 accomplishments you want to achieve by year-end. Perhaps it’s to execute your annual fund year-end appeals smoothly, have a special day with each one of your kids, take in holiday lights, get your holiday cards and gifts to others with grace, and meet with your list of 15-20 key major givers to present an opportunity for them to make a meaningful key gift.
Finish this sentence, “If I could accomplish these 3-5 things with grace and genuine respect for my relationships with others, I would be smiling from ear-to-ear January 1, 2024 and thinking, ‘Job well done.’
Invest in JOY®
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You missed the deadline. Maybe didn’t sleep much worrying about it. Or perhaps you slept just fine and rolled your eyes about the colleague who is an over-the-top jerk about her self-created deadlines. Perhaps you know full well that you can get your part done, and done well, without being weeks ahead. It’s downright frustrating that others need to create a crisis around completing a few simple tasks.
Deadlines are always part of life. For it to be a REAL deadline, something has to happen. Historically a deadline was the line drawn around a prison beyond which prisoners were liable to be shot – that’s pretty real. No stress in that, right? So for most of us a deadline is something definite – the wedding, the grant submission date, December 31st, your presentation day, the vacation, the show.
Then there is the timeline! A timeline is actually when you do the work. Ideally a timeline takes away the stress of a deadline. Timelines have flex. Deadlines don’t… unless they are self or management imposed deadlines and this can bring the stress right back.
You see, timelines reduce the stress of deadlines ONLY if created based on the ability of your weakest link – in skill or mindset!
Truths about timelines and deadlines – Creating good timelines and deadlines depends upon several factors:
1.Our beliefs and mindset. What it will take to execute the timeline (and meet a deadline) will impact the steps, space, and check-in’s we believe are needed. They reflect our own perception of the task and its difficulty or ease.
2. Our experience, individually or as a group. If this is a task/process we have done forever, we have people we’ve worked with for years, etc, our timeline is more flexible. Covid shook this up for a lot of us. This impacts timeline, not the real deadline.
3. Our personal self-confidence in our ability to do our part of the work.For example, if we are a long time speaker we need different prep time than the beginning speaker who wants ample time to rehearse.
4. Our overall self-confidence/self esteem. If we are confident and have high self-esteem, this is reflected in our approach to all our work. Likewise, if we struggle with feeling like we are not enough, do not get the respect we feel we should, or have perfectionist qualities it can manifest significantly in timeline work.
5. Our belief in our colleagues doing the task with us. This is about your staff colleagues as well as outside vendor colleagues. If a printer is always late, you build in time to deal with this (or seek another source). If you don’t have faith in your colleagues – you feel they don’t have the same level of dedication or experience you do, you feel they have let you down in the past, or you feelyou can count on them.
6. Our fear of unknowns. What if? Sure, being prepared for unexpected delays, illness, or competing projects has a place. But be sure to also manifest a clear road, AND that you can easily be bigger than any problem that comes along.
Generosity blossoms in the last quarter of the year. Generally 1/3 of US individual giving (around $105,600,000,000 of the total $320,000,000,000 in 2022) happens in December – 12% in the last three days of the year. As we enter our year-end planning and our key work with major donors remember these keys to success.
Key Do’s and Don’ts for successful timelines and deadlines (and year-end planning)!
1. Remember the difference between timelines and deadlines. Don’t create deadlines in timelines – that puts all the stress back into them! Check-in’s that foster open space for participants to be at different places along the timeline build trust and actually make people more inclined to stay on the timeline.
2. Inspire and create excitement for the results of working a timeline. All participants (this may not be the lead, but great if it is!) can support success by bringing positive energy to the work. Good managers and leaders know that getting angry, critical or reminding people, “I even put this deadline in your calendar” doesn’t foster strong working relationships.
3. Balance passion and collegiality. YOU are passionate about how this process, event, and/or year-end fundraising happens! You are dedicated, you care, and you want to do excellent work. Urg! How can others be so incompetent? Why don’t they follow-through? Don’t they see that your ideas are better? Don’t they care? How do they still have their job?!!!
How our events, mailings, whatever looks and runs IS important. People will react/judge typos, long registration lines, and weeds. But it is MORE IMPORTANT to foster positive caring relationships and not make it about you and your performance demons.
I often say we have a calling – not a job. Yet, when our passion invades the tone and wording in emails, finds us complaining to leadership, getting angry, demanding action, and worse – gossiping about colleagues – we do nothing to inspire generosity, success and abundance. They just earn you a title – and generally not a good one. If you are constantly complaining about how much work you do, that you aren’t appreciated or supported, etc know that this really reflects YOUR victim mentality – poor me, and you can change that!
Drop the victim. Drop the blame. Decide to shine today. Your timelines, and also your whole life, will be a happier process and your deadlines will produce the results you are after! Ta da tad a……CHARGE!
Invest in JOY®
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Your first face-to-face visit with a key prospective giver. You feel awkward but determined to do your best.
Being in a challenging family situation. You feel you cannot say a word that will be “heard” correctly. It’s just too charged.
Your new boss who latches onto the ALL the donors. You feel embarrassed and powerless.
Do you know people who enter the scene and immediately change the mood? Do you have friends/family that can “snap you out of it?” Here are two – son, RJ, 29th birthday on Sunday and daughter Carly’s baby (our granddaughter) Maeve, 9 months.
During the past 15 days I experienced the basement flooding, a beautiful wedding, a baby in the house, hosting 80+ people for a party in 92 degree humid heat, client challenges, my son and daughter visiting from far away, old band mates returning, birthdays, the refrigerator dying, and meeting my very first coaching client in person.
Here’s the thing. Throughout all of this, I observed people and actions that flipped the switch – changed the mood – lightened the problem and cracked the tension with laughter – in a word – JOY MAKERS.
How to be a JOY MAKER!
1. Bring energy. When you choose to show up with energy it’s contagious.
2. Smile. Try looking at someone with a big happy smile and not smile back!
3. Make Music. Play it, sing it. Dance to it! Happy Birthday to you! ABBA. The Beer Barrel Polka.
4. Shut down the negative. Not one more word about the heat today! Don’t give more precious life time to the negative feeling, person, etc.
5. Be Goofy and Fun. “Professional” does not mean stiff.
6. Know one good joke. “What did one strawberry say to the other strawberry? I said if we laid in this bed together we’d end up in a jam!” (It’s been laughed at for 40 years.)
7. Focus on others. It’s just not about you – your feelings, your expectations, your disappointments, your food preferences, blah blah, blah. When you focus on others your own burdens lift. Your winning shouldn’t mean others have to lose.
8. Create an Anchor. Give yourself a physical cue to change a bad mood. Touch your elbow; rub your chin – whatever – but condition yourself that this trigger changes your mood. (Tony Robbins)
9. Declare Gratitude. 92 degrees? I’m grateful it’s not raining!
10. Give. Give tips. Give chocolate chip cookies. Give compliments. BE ABUNDANT!
JOY MAKERS can Flip Switches! Break the frustration, pain, hurt, anger, and exhaustion. Beat the heat and calm the nerves. Decide you can be one!
And here’s the best part – when you are a joy-maker, you feel JOYFUL!
This week my very FIRST coaching client, now a successful major gift officer, Heidi Ihrig, was in Madison celebrating her birthday AND her wedding anniversary! She chose to stop in to see me! WHAT A JOY! Just so happened I had just ordered my very FIRST Artful Asker mug – the perfect gift.
Invest in JOY®
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The Virginia Fund Raising Institute was such a blast! The singing during my keynote was exceptional with one guy providing a solo of “People love to give me money!” I gave him an opportunity to sing, and he grabbed it!
Stacy Nixon, CFRE, saw sponsoring my book for everyone at the conference as an opportunity for Norfolk Collegiate School to shine. THANK YOU!
Do you remember the “Opportunity Knocks!” cards in board games? We’d shout every time someone landed on that space and knocked our hands on the table and yell, “Opportunity Knocks!” It’s a BIG DEAL to get an opportunity!
Ever wonder why some people just seem to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time and getting incredible opportunities?
It’s not luck – they are intentionally attracting opportunities to them! Yep.
Be an Opportunity MAGNET! Here’s how…
1. Manifest the opportunities you want, intend them, just plan ASK for them…
SOMETHING GOOOODDDS GONNA HAPPEN TO ME!
2. Change the way you look at the things that happen to you. Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path.
3. Live with energy and anticipation! Be excited for the opportunities that are coming next!
4. Create the space for opportunities by engaging with others. Hold the door for a stranger, smile, make eye contact and say, “Great to have the opportunity to see you today.” You would be surprised how reaching out like this creates opportunities!
5. Spend some time thinking about what opportunities you actually DO want to come your way – focus on the details of what you want to happen, who you want to meet, what project you want to get. And then just go through your days anticipating that the universe is preparing them for you right now!
Funny thing though. Sometimes the opportunity presented is sort of a mixed experience.
Enter REAL LIFE Opportunity Cards….not in the board game.
You have an opportunity to receive a major gift – even though the number is not what you were asking for.
You have an opportunity to interview for another position – and it’s attractive, but you are also pretty darn happy where you are right now.
You have an opportunity to spend an evening with your college roommate passing through town – even though you have a major deadline to finish by the next day.
You have an opportunity to work with a major donor you don’t really agree with on some key issues, but he loves your mission and you would like to engage him and inspire his generosity.
Opportunity is knocking! It’s always your choice to create it and embrace it!
And remember this about Opportunities….
Not every opportunity is an opportunity.
An opportunity may not show up the way you ask for it to or looking like you expected it to.
An opportunity may require some hard work to be an opportunity.
Something that looks like a problem or challenge may well be an opportunity.
You can turn almost anything INTO an opportunity.
The same opportunity will come to many people – but only a few will do something with it.
EVERY DAY is filled with opportunities for you. Every Day is lined with doors of all shapes and sizes you have only to open and walk through!
May you celebrate the opportunities you have already have in your life and get to work picturing all the opportunities to come for you!
Can you believe we had 50+ at our home this weekend! The Heim Family Reunion! I was MOST excited about my gardens. All those nights Ken and I watered no matter what! It was SO worth it!
Last week I had a chance to reconnect with a good friend, client, and active board member. Let’s call him Paul (not his real name). Paul is a successful investor with a passion for helping others. He’s a major donor. He’s set up a 7-figure estate gift. Plus, he’s an active board member and volunteer – serving on several local non-profit boards. He’s engaged, invested, smart, and willing to dig in and talk to others about getting involved and supporting a cause. I am a big fan.
Paul called me after hearing me teach my 3-sentence ask at a conference. Why didn’t ALL board members have this tool? And my Artful Cycle of Successful Relationships? Indeed!
We worked out several presentations with board/volunteer groups he served with. They went well. By this time, I connected with some of the staff, too. With one organization, the ED is bright and talented but, like many ED’s, ran the place AND was also responsible for all the fundraising. Paul and his fellow board members were pretty much on their own. The ED tried to participate as much as possible and the national organization provided “coaches.” In reality, there was not much help creating that inspiring donor journey – that joyful giver. They also lacked clear and vibrant giving options. Sure, there were impact stories – lots of them. But those important messages that help communicate what “the money does – and REALLY does” were murky at best.
On another board Paul serves on, board members are supported the entire journey by the leadership and a dedicated fundraiser. Board members introduce their influential and capable friends to the staff who jump in and shepherd the process, WITH THEM. They have clear options to invest in at all giving levels. They experience great success.
When we talked, Paul just sort of shrugs at the mention of Board 1. “We just don’t get much traction.” He’s excited about Board 2. “Every introduction I make we end up with someone new getting involved and making a gift! We are really making headway.”
Here’s the point. Paul doesn’t change as he serves on different boards. He’s the same guy, with the same great talents and dedication, similar organizations. But, he has a very different volunteer experience.
What creates success for a board member in fostering Major Gifts?
Must-haves for Your Board to be Effective Major Gift Ambassadors!
1. Board members are not expected to be major-gift fundraisers.
They ARE expected to understand the process, be connectors, help show appreciation, and participate in engagement activities. They are not expected to create or manage development relationships.
2. The organization has anExecutive Director/CEO that understands their role in major gift development.
The ED/CEO is to support major gift relationships as managed by the development professional.
The ED/CEO’s role is to create an inspiring strategic vision, be clear on the staff, facilities, etc. needed to realize the vision and project competency to deliver the vision internally and externally.
3. The Executive Director/CEO prioritizes development in the annual budget for the day-to-day.
What you focus on, you grow. The ED/CEO who understands major gift development insists on a few key practices:
The development professional is at every Board meeting and has full opportunity to engage with the board.
The ED/CEO reminds the board often of their responsibilities to make their personal financial investment, support of the development professional and show their appreciation for those who have given.
“We don’t have the budget to hire a development professional.” Even a small budget can make room for a part-time development professional. Care must be taken to not make this position marketing or annual fund – rather a true relationship-builder who can work WITH the Board. The ED/CEO must prioritize the investment.
4. Board members who are invited to serve have a clear understanding of their role in giving and inspiring generosity.
In my University of Wisconsin decades, we called this Volunteer Led-Staff Driven. (It’s also what I cover in my board workshops!) Simply put, Board members are strategic partners. They create connections, provide their own gift first, and can talk about giving priorities. Staff help craft the best actions and ensure that the relationship moves forward. Board members are not expected to speak an ask – but may go along on the call to provide testimony of their own joyful and meaningful giving experience.
5. Setting expectations and results.
Donors want to give to their passions, their way on their timeline. BOTH Board members and staff need to understand this! But the staff member uses every conversation and touch to discover the donor’s passion and vision with the organization’s to find the perfect giving option. It’s important to have activity metrics for your BOARD members – not just money goals. They are provided with simple and clear one-pagers that lay our major giving “buckets.”
6. Board members share their actions at every board meeting.
They share call stories. These are relationship stories, not data fields. Success is celebrated in terms of what the money DOES!
The relationship with the board members can be a very productive one. Remember they are unpaid partners. These same partnerships are possible with faculty, team heads, program staff, etc. Everyone involved with the organization can be an ambassador with the help of the development staff. Enjoy!
Invest in JOY®
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YIKES! Are you ever afraid one of those many balls-in-the-air is falling?
Perhaps your amazing life is also filled with your wonderful summer-connecting donor conversations, fireworks (at least 3 shows), family reunions – probably that you are hosting – and all sorts of summer fun!
I get to fretting sometimes – being truly transparent here.
It really just wears you out. So….
When you don’t know what to even begin next….
1. What CAN you do RIGHT NOW.
To be fair, it may not be one of the top priorities but it is something you can DO – right now. There is some satisfaction getting the wash going. What can you do with the bit of time and energy and brain power you have right now?
2. Make a list of the most urgent tasks with the REAL deadlines.
This does two things. 1.Your brain stops spinning around a list of stuff that may include a. don’t forget the lawn chairs tonite to b. do you have a Christmas gift for Joe (WHAT? Why are you even thinking about that NOW?)
And 2. Use the “sky-will-fall-if-I-don’t-get-this-done” deadline. What you might discover is that there are really not many things that bring down the sky.
3. Find someone who can work with you to get a few things done.
My college roommate, Linda, stayed with us a night this week on a cross-country drive to get some of her late parents’ things to her home. While she was here I whisked her into our basement and said, “Just walk around with me and help me see what I need to do to be ready for an August visit from our 3-year-old so she is safe and I am not stressing about what I am forgetting.” A half-hour later I have a list – actually shorter than I had envisioned, and we had plugged in and played the slot machine we have in our basement – a total hoot.
In my biz – this is Michelle. She comes by and we start by asking, “What’s the most important thing we need to do today?” There is SO much opportunity with all I am doing and having a colleague to partner with is SO helpful!
4. Just reconnect – don’t make excuses to your donors, family, anyone.
“Donor, it has been so long since we visited! I miss you. When can we get together?” This is much better than, “We’ve been budgeting.” “We had a family reunion.” All the excuses are just a slap in the face that all that stuff was more important to you than seeing the donor, your cousin or anyone. Just reach out and authentically seek to reconnect. (Remember, you can feel a fake a mile away so be sure you really WANT to see this person.)
5. Make your bed.
This isn’t a tough one. It signals the start of the day. Makes at least one part of your bedroom tidy. You control it and you finish it. Enough said. I have a long-time client who says, “I make my bed everyday – who would have thought it would make such a difference!”
Remember your physics (Ok so I did a lot of physics – just trust me on this one)
“An object in motion tends to say in motion. An object at rest tends to stay at rest.” So simply start! Starting in itself will motivate you!
Please…..DON’T FRET! It robs you of important energy and joy!
You are doing really important work. Time travels fast.
AND….
YOU ARE SPECIAL!
YOU ARE BRAVE!
YOU REALLY CARE!
No one can stop you. Whew! Now you can relax!
Invest in JOY®
https://marcyheim.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marcy-Heim-logo.svg00Marcy Heimhttps://marcyheim.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marcy-Heim-logo.svgMarcy Heim2023-07-12 15:50:062024-02-19 09:15:12Lot’s of Balls in the air?
So often you are told not to “cultivate” TOO LONG! Get to that ask for goodness sake!
Actually, real people can take real time with other real people – your spouse, your kids, your friends, your DONORS!
What do I mean?
Take in a ball game.
Go to an outside summer concert.
Eat ice cream.
Play pickleball. (So long as losing is ok)
Linger over a LOOOOONNNG iced coffee.
Blow bubbles.
Walk the dogs together.
So how do you really DO this?
Last week all the AFP’s in Wisconsin got together for a day of learning. I particularly enjoyed and learned from, Amy Wong, DotOrgSolutions.org whose session was, “Creating Meaningful Connections in an Over-Connected World!” Regina Lloren McConnell, East Madison Community Center and a long-time friend, decided we would capture our out-of-town guest and take her for a beer on the Wisconsin Union Terrace. In Amy’s honor, I hope this content is skimmable, curated, and tells you a story.
We had a wonderful time.
We told stories – about life, what’s important, our feelings.
There was no check off list! Just a real authentic sharing.
You can enjoy time with your donors the very same way. (Just not too many beers.)
You will, however, discover that the conversations DO drift to your non-profit. Why? Because you are after the money???? NO! Because you all sincerely DO VALUE your mission and your work and it’s meaningful and fun to share!
So there you have it! It’s summer.
Get away from your screen and GO PLAY!!!
Invest in JOY®
https://marcyheim.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marcy-Heim-logo.svg00Marcy Heimhttps://marcyheim.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marcy-Heim-logo.svgMarcy Heim2023-06-28 07:34:112024-02-19 09:15:13In the good ole summertime!
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