Nonprofit leaders: How do you continue your practice when you are not getting the outcomes you want?
“When our commitment is wavering, the best way to stay on track is to consider the progress we’ve already made. As we recognize what we’ve invested and attained, it seems like a waste to give up, and our confidence and commitment surge.” #adamgrant, #Originals
Sometimes we don’t get the outward signals to know that we are progressing. But looking at how far we have come reinforces our work from an internal perspective.
If we look at the “gain” rather than the “gap” we shift our #mindset.
Now you: Have you ever decided not to give up when you considered how far you have come?
#success #nonprofit #successstrategies #leadership #growth, #mindset
Committing to Fundraising as a Practice
“Our commitment to the process is the only alternative to the lottery mindset of hoping for the good luck of getting picked by the universe”. #SethGodin, #ThePractice.
#Fundraising is a practice, a process, a set of daily habits and efforts, repeated over time, regardless of the outcome.
Fundraising requires persistence and effort in the face of constant rejections.
So how do we sustain that level of effort, knowing that we will be rejected 4 out of the five times we ask?
We commit to the practice of fundraising.
A Practice builds in both the actions and the persistence mindset.
Godin says “Good processes, repeated over time, lead to good outcomes, more often than lazy processes do. Focus on short-term outcomes forces us to make choices that are banal, short-term, or selfish. It takes our focus away from the journey and encourages us to give up too early.´
Approaching fundraising as a practice means that you apply your skills and actions, daily and regularly in order to improve. Without a practice, you will not get sustainable funding outcomes.
Now you: Do you have a daily work practice?
To create a #fundraising practice,
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Fundrasing as a Practice-- Simply Begin
The only choice that we have is to begin. And the only place to begin is where we are. Simply begin” #SethGodin, #ThePractice.
You can begin your #fundraising effort, from just where you are. Just begin. If you have a few individual donors, extend your practice to create a systematic #majorgifts program. The way you do this is by establishing the practices of the major gifts program.
A practice is built by having daily habits and taking action, consistently over a period of time. “Action creates habits, and habits are part of a practice, and a practice is the single best way to get to where you seek to go. (Godin)
You create a major gifts program, by doing the prospecting, cultivating, communicating, soliciting, and stewarding—long before you have the major gift as an outcome.
Start where you are. The commitment is completely under your control, even when the end results cant be.
Now You: What action are you committing to today that will begin your practice?
#fundraising #nonprofit #leadership
Fundraising as a Practice -It’s not working yet.
It’s not working yet. That’s the only reassurance you truly need.” (Seth Godin)
This is true for anything creative, anything difficult, any change effort.
I find #SethGodin’s focus on the practice, comforting and true for nonprofit leadership and fundraising—both are difficult, important and a process with no guaranteed outcome.
Godin says “There’s a practice. The practice is proven, and you’ve embraced it. Now, all that’s needed is more. More time, more cycles, more bravery, more process. More of you. Much more of you. More idiosyncrasy, more genre, more seeing, more generosity more learning. It's just not working yet…”
Understanding our work in nonprofits as a practice that involves cycles of implementation and learning, can really fuel our forward motion. Embracing the “not yet” means that it continues to be a work in process, one that we commit to every day to get to the yes.
Now you: Do you embrace your “not yet”?
#fundraising #nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #leadership #success #change #sethgodin