How do you think about things?

 

I was doing a webinar for Bloomerang in a Sheraton conference room in Des Moines, Iowa en route from Madison, Wisconsin to a client dinner event in Denver and my speaking gig in Colorado Springs. What could possibly go wrong? I’ve done scores of these. Set to connect for No-Nonsense Must-Haves for Major Giving Success,  I was yakking greetings to Kate Kramer, Partner Marketing Manager at Bloomerang, when she said, “Marcy, we can’t hear you.”  “WHAT?” I yelled into the empty conference room!

I was thinking, “I am not good at this tech stuff.”  I quickly changed this to, “I’ve had hiccups like this before. I can figure it out.”  This immediately stopped my fingers from shaking and my heart from racing and I started working through ideas Kate shared. With 4 minutes to spare, I was loud and clear and the webinar began right on time!

ICYMI – Here’s the link to the recording: https://bloomerang.co/webinar/no-nonsense-must-haves-for-major-giving-success-now-06-01/

Note: The problem didn’t change.  My thinking did.

My tag line is, The Artful Asker – The Mindset and Methods for Major Giving Success.  Why? Because in my experience as a front line major gift fundraiser, leading a fundraising team and now over 15 years coaching others, one thing is clear – your success is in your head!

A few short slides into my webinar I shared the powerful tool of reframing our thinking. Because I practice this, I can pretty much do it on the spot. There are still some issues where I need to really think through WHY I am thinking WHAT I’m thinking and why it’s not going to serve me and what I’m going to do about it!

Here’s a slide of example reframes:

The first line is the worrisome thought and the second line is the empowering reframe!

To PROVE to you this is pretty easy to do, here are just 9 of the many reframes the webinar participants contributed in the chat. They were asked to complete the sentence, “It’s going to be hard to….” And then reframe it.

From Emily:

It’s going to be hard to raise the funds we need this year.

Now is the perfect time to raise the money we need.

From Michelle:

It’s going to be hard to find new donors.

I can’t wait to meet new donors!  (Marcy’s note – this is really powerful because it sets the intention that new donors will come into her world for her to meet! Excellent!)

From Nathaniel:

It’s gonna be hard to ask them to open their wallet again…

Why not get on board with our new program?  (Marcy’s note – let’s also lose talking about donors as “wallets we are going to open” Old school and doesn’t serve us anymore so great reframe on two counts, Nathaniel!)

From Megan:

It’s gonna be hard to raise money in 2024 because it’s an election year.People are going to be exhausted by all the politics and looking for joy and impact – I can help them connect to that!  (Megan – I love, love, love, this!)

From Kristen:

It’s gonna be hard to get my board to fundraise and give?

I can remind them that their values align with our mission and that people take their cue from leaders like them! (Marcy’s note – Kristen, couldn’t find your reframe in the chat, but this is an important one – so I slipped one in!)

From Darren:

It’s going to be hard to meet successful people I don’t know.

I have had great interactions at networking events and can replicate those experiences in the future!  (Marcy’s note – YOU GO DARREN!!)

From Alexandra:

It’s going to be hard to get donors back after a change of management.

Our donors believe in our mission – we can rekindle their passion as we create relationships with our new leader.  (Marcy’s note – I added a reframe)

From Michaela:

It’s going to be hard to grow our major giving program this year.

There’s so much opportunity to bring new donors to our organization and mission. (Marcy’s note – YES! Abundance Mindset!)

From Brianna:

It’s gonna be hard to raise money for our annual fund next year. 

Sharing a compelling and inspiring personal story will get donors excited about giving! (Marcy’s note – YES! Abundance Mindset!)

HERE’s THE DEAL…..

So now it’s your turn.  What’s banging around in your head that is just plain negative? What are you worrying about the most?  FLIP THAT WORRY ON ITS HEAD!!!

“It’s going to be hard to raise major gifts in this financial environment.” 

WHAT?  NOT FOR YOU!  Shine on!

Invest in JOY®