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Send your excuses packing!

September 21, 2011 By Sandy

My coach uses a lot of great, sticky phrases.  They’re sticky because they’re easy to remember.  One of my favorites is “Take a No Excuses Approach.”

Her point is that when you really want something, you should go after it, full out.  No excuses.  No “I don’t have time” or “I’m too tired.”  None of that.  It’s amazing how much we don’t do because we talk ourselves out of it.

What would happen to your fundraising if you took a No Excuses Approach?  Would you raise more money?  No doubt that you would.

I suggest you start to pay attention to the excuses you use to keep yourself where you are.  Watch out – excuses can be very subtle and sometimes seem like justification or “reasons.”  When you identify an excuse, think about why you are using it.  What benefit do you get from using that excuse?  And are you moving closer to your goal by using that excuse?

I bet you’ll figure out (just like I did) that my excuses do not serve me.  Make a commitment to radically reduce the number of excuses you use and see what happens.  I bet you’ll find (just like I did) that it’s easier to reach your goals and be successful!


Want more tips like this?  Stay tuned here for more!  We’re celebrating the launch of the Get Fully Funded books next week by sharing 30 days of tips right here on the Get Fully Funded blog.

Filed Under: Personal/Professional Development

Why spend the money?

July 26, 2011 By Sandy

If you are a nonprofit director, you know that the budget line item for training and development is often the first one to go when things get tight.  But this is SO short-sighted! Too often, visionless Boards start cutting things out instead of ramping up the fundraising (but that’s a topic for another day!).

Whether it’s a book, a workshop, or a coach, investing in yourself has a tremendous impact on your nonprofit organization, its mission, and the people who benefit. When you strengthen your skills, you strengthen your ability to lead and to get the job done.  You become the kind of leader that people want to follow.  Investing in yourself has a magnificent ripple effect that touches just about everything in the organization, because you start doing your job better.

Just in case you need them, here are some reasons WHY you want to invest in yourself and your organization.

  • It’s the best return on your investment.  For a nonprofit, there’s no better place to invest money. Staff development is the most important key for future success.  The dividends from investing in your knowledge are many – new skills, new resources, improved commitment, an attitude adjustment – the list goes on.
  • It ensures the future success of your organization.  If you want to make sure that your organization is around in 1 year or 5 years or 20 years, invest in it today!  How else will you keep up with the latest trends in fundraising and nonprofit management?
  • It shows that you’re serious about what you’re doing.  People who are serious about success invest in themseleves.  They attend workshops and conferences to increase their knowledge about their field.  They do what it takes to make sure they’re playing at the top of their game.
  • It demonstrates your committment to your mission.  Leaders of organizations that have risen to the top of the pack have the attitude of doing whatever it takes.  They are uber-committed to their mission and the people they serve.  You better believe they are investing in their people!
  • It shows you are committed to being around for the long haul.  By investing in yourself and your nonprofit, you show that you are committed to long-term success, not some flash-in-the-pan adventure.

Obviously, you want to make a good decision about the things you invest in.  Look for opportunities that support your learning style and those that are a good value financially.  I don’t mean only jump on cheap things.  Instead, make sure that what you get for the money is well worth it.  I’ve spent thousands of dollars on coaching programs that returned value to me like mad in terms of new revenue, new opportunities, enhanced skills, new connections, and more.

Once you decide which opportunities look good to you, take advantage of them!  Don’t purchase books then put them on the shelf or buy a ticket for a workshop only to spend half of it in the hallway on the phone.  Commit yourself to learning all you can from them.  Then implement.  It does no good to learn new things if you don’t put them into action.  Taking action and moving forward will nearly always lead to success.


Filed Under: Management, Personal/Professional Development

Are you it?

July 12, 2011 By Sandy

Are you the one person in your office who does everything?  Do you wear “Fundraiser” as one of your many haes and get frustrated when there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done?

This is a common lament among staff in small nonprofit organizations.  How you answer that question and respond to it will determine whether or not you’ll be successful in raising money.  If you dread raising money or if you leave it til last, your results will be dismal.  If you embrace it and give it the attention it deserves, you’ll love the results you get.  This is about mindset or how you think about things.  The framework that you use to view the world has a huge impact on how you act and what you do.

Here are some suggestions for staying in a positve mindset when you’re the Lone Ranger of Fundraising.

First, know what it is you’re trying to accomplish.  In other words, have a plan.  If you don’t know what needs to get done during the day, you’ll float from one thing to the next and at the end of the day, you’ll wonder what you did, which can give you a sense of uselessness.  Instead, be clear about your ggoals for the day and focus on getting them done.  At the end of the day, you’ll have a great sense of accomplishment.  To crank this up a notch, keep a journal of everything you got done and good things that happened during the day.  When you focus on the positive, you’ll feel great abour your work and it will show!

Second, surround yourself with support.  Most of us have friends we can talk to, but we don’t lean on them until something bad happens.  Instead, put some purposeful support in place.  Have a regular meeting with a mentor or a colleague so that you can air your frustrations in private. Get a coach to help you make decisions and set goals.  Make sure to spend time with people who are a positive influence on you and pull you forward.  I’ve heard it said that we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with.  Think on that for a bit.  You might want to change who you’re hanging out with!

Third, play to your strengths.  Do only those things that you are really good at and get help with the rest.  I know, I can hear you saying that you can’t afford to hire anyone. That’s alright.  Recruit a volunteer or get an intern to help you.  Consider outsourcing things that you aren’t good at (for me, that’s bookkeeping!).  Hire a contract person to help write grants if you can’t stand writing.  Just get help.  You might find ways to automate some things so that they don’t take as much time.  And there are probably things you’re doing that you should simply stop doing, because they don’t need to be done in the first place.  Remember, you have limited time and energy and creativity during the day, so spend them on the things that really matter.

Finally, keep your head in the game.  Be passionate about the cause you are working for and spend time regularly on the front lines to fire up that passion. This can help you more than anything else!  Looking someone in the face who is receiving help from your nonprofit and seeing them smile might be all you need to keep your heart burning and your mind focused on the things you need to do.

When you work in a small organization, it’s easy to get resentful of the “big” nonprofits, because they have lots of staff and scads of volunteers and they get all the big donors, right?  If that thought or a variation of it runs through you head, I want you to kick it out and replace it with something better. Just remember that every big nonprofit was once exactly where yours is.  The only difference is that someone at that big organization hung in there and stayed focused, and good things started to happen.

You hang in there and it can happen for you, too!

Filed Under: General Fundraising, Get Fully Funded, Personal/Professional Development
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