Leadership

Some favorite YouTube videos.

I use them in my classes at SMUMN – where I teach in the masters program in Philanthropy and Development.

If I were on staff at an institution (instead of being a consultant) – I’d insist all staff watch these together….And then talk.

HEY! What a great way to start a board meeting…periodically watching something like this and talking about the implications for your clients, your donors, your organization, the community, and on and on and on…

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE MARVELOUS VIDEOS is about the work that you and I do. The work that pretty much any human being does.

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE INSIGHTFUL VIDEOS is about life…your life and mine, and the beneficiaries of our work and the volunteers helping in our organizations, serving on boards.

AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE HUMAN AND HUMANE VIDEOS is about our donors.

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Watch these. Share these. Explore the implications. Learn. Make change. Do and be better.

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Ahmen, “Batman of Social Impact.” Nonprofit leader by day and hip-hop artist by night. His marvelous opening for IFC 2017. I was there. I took the knee with my hand in a fist.[ https://twitter.com/TheResAlliance?lang=en]

#likeagirl “What does it mean to do something like a girl.” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs]

Ash Beckham: We’re all hiding something – coming out of the closet. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSR4xuU07sc]

Brené Brown and vulnerability. [https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability]

“What is Privilege?” The privilege walk is one of the most insightful, saddening things I’ve ever seen or experienced. Better than watching it, you can actually do it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD5f8GuNuGQ]

Hey thanks you all who read my blog. You sent such cool quotations to add to my quotations!!!

From Vicki James: “Fundraising allows ordinary people to change the world.” [YES! Ordinary people. Because philanthropy should be a democratizing activity…not just a major donor/major gift / wealthy thing!!!

Alex Cooper says: “My favourite, concise quote/directive is ‘every interaction is an ask’ – ingraining this in the organizational culture can sometimes be difficult but it is definitely a game-changer in terms of amplifying the narrative at every touchpoint once it’s in place.”

Bonnie Katusich gave me the total quote from Marianne Williamson, which I shared in my original blog:  “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, talented, gorgeous, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people per mission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

And there are more quotes to come!!!

I use quotations in strategic plans for clients… in fundraising plans…in articles and in books…And I use quotations to rejuvenate myself…

Thanks to all of you for sending me quotations.

Thanks, Patti Saunders, for sending this lovely poem from Marge Piercy.

Sometimes I just can’t find the words. Or put together the words. That’s when the words of others help.

I’ve collected quotes since I was in high school. I’d like to share some with you.

From THE ANGEL’S GAME, Carlos Ruiz Zafón. This is sooooo beautiful.

•  “Everything is a tale. What we believe, what we know. What we remember, even what we dream. Everything is a story, a narrative, a sequence of events with characters communicating an emotional content. We only accept as true what can be narrated.”

And how about this one from Marianne Williamson.

• “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”

Do you have a favorite quotation?

The recurring series that occurs every summer when I’m teaching in the marvelously cool masters program in philanthropy and fund development at Saint Mary’s University of MN.

The first week of class is over… I’m reading papers from Cohort 28. The assignment: Interviewing a classmate to learn the the classmate’s philanthropic story.

The stories are so cool…how these colleagues wrote about each other. The feelings. Caring. Admiration. Respect.

Imagine a colleague saying something like the statements below…. Or saying something like this about you…

♦ “Both personally and professionally, this philanthropic powerhouse positively impacts people’s lives.

         ♦ How do you want to be remembered? “That I never hurt anyone purposely.”

♦ “My passion is to inspire other peoples’ passion.”

                      ♦ A woman of this caliber has a philanthropic journey that is only beginning.

♦ “There is a lot of work to be done in our world. I hope I can – in some small way – chip away at it.”

♦ She joined a sit-in protest at her comfort level. The next thing she knew, she had busted through her comfort level.

♦ A humanitarian to the core, [he] lives every hour of each day in service to his commitment to make the world a better place.

               ♦ It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.

                        ♦ Asked, “why would you do that?” She responded: “Why would you not?”

          ♦ She doesn’t just talk the talk.

♦ “I hope I’ll be remembered as a ‘listening ear.’ Being there for people. Being present when needed.”

I believe that conversation is a core business practice. And conversation is different than discussion. Very different!

Theodore Zeldin wrote the most beautiful book about conversation: Conversation – How Talk Can Change Our Lives.

Here are some of my favorite Zeldin statements…direct quotations from his lovely book.

1. Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don’t just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards; it creates new cards.
2. Having one’s ideas challenged and transmuted by verbal intercourse makes one aware how much one owes to others, how much a partner can contribute to one’s intellectual, moral and emotional development, thought one remains a separate, unique person.
3. Conversation, like families, dies when it is inbred. Or when your guests have had more or less the same experience as yourself.
4. Conversation has to explore new territory to become an adventure.

Enough with just training sessions like all those conferences. Hey, I love conferences. I just returned from presenting at the Festival del Fundraising in Italy. Very good. And Cause Camp was good and so was BloomCon and and… These are curated conferences and they are pretty darn marvelous.

But I’m telling you… There’s nothing quite like some academic stuff going down.

Think about it. Sometimes it feels like fundraising is the only profession that you do NOT NOT need to know anything about to join up and do it.

• “I’m a former bank manager. I have lots of contacts. I know lots about money. So I can become a fundraiser!”
• “That cool wealthy guy plans the best parties. Let’s hire him as our next development officer. Besides, he has lots of wealthy pals.”

PLEASE PLEASE ! Let’s stop this foolishness now. Every nonprofit deserves a competent fundraiser who knows the body of knowledge. (Not opinion, please!)

Check out AFP’s Fundraising Principles and Practice course. You want to be good — even great?! Enroll now. Very best of professional practice + cutting edge science. And Adrian Sargeant will be with you all the way.

Learn more by clicking here. Really and truly…Are you sure that you know the cutting edge practice and critically important academic science for these topics: Fundraising and donor behavior. Direct response fundraising. Fundraising planning and donor retention. Major gifts and legacies. Corporate fundraising. AND!!! Managing your fundraising team. Click here! Learn the right stuff!

Can your monthly donors – those wonderful people we all want so badly – be held hostage? YES YES.

So we have to stop this! That’s you and me and others.

READ THIS NOW! http://www.theagitator.net/uncategorized/can-your-monthly-donors-be-held-hostage

Then take the survey so the wonderful Agitator peeps can blog more about this.

Yes. Act now! Let’s make sure to stop the hostage-taking of our monthly donors.

How does your organization identify that which it doesn’t know – and learn about all that? Here are some of my ideas…

• Diversity of life experience within staff and board: Gender identity. Sexual orientation. Socioeconomic status. Faith. Race/ethnicity. Profession. What else?
• Intentional conversations about knowing what we don’t know – and learning about it.
• Exploring cage-rattling questions to stimulate meaningful conversation.
• Regular monitoring of the external environment, your organization’s internal environment, your organization’s specific field of endeavor, the nonprofit sector itself.
• Reading across various disciplines.

What else?

I know that I don’t know much about sports (of any kind). And I don’t care that I don’t know much. I can make fun of myself. I can ask others. And there’s no substantive impact on my life or my friendships or my business or….

There’s lots of stuff I do know. And I know how to fill in the gaps of lots of my not knowing.

But what about the important stuff that I don’t know and don’t know that I don’t know it? I think that matters.

Not knowing what I don’t know…That’s worrisome. For me and my life. For my business. For my clients and my community and my society and my world.

How do we know what we don’t know? By reading lots. By connecting with diverse people. By exposing ourselves to unfamiliar things. By venturing beyond where we’re comfortable.

It’s the same for our organizations. First, decide it’s important to monitor what we don’t know and figure out how to know what we don’t know. Build this into your organizational culture. Establish systems and procedures to do this. Engage regularly in conversation at both staff and board levels.

Knowing what we don’t know… And knowing what we don’t know that we don’t know… Both are super important!