Folly #46: Inspiration

Truisms that derail us.

I’m not a procrastinator. Yet somehow, I’m often writing this Friday newsletter on Thursday night. I know that sounds incredibly lame.

As truths often do.

I knew exactly what I wanted to write about this week. And then I got completely derailed. As in … unexepected-learnings-happen-when-you’re-blown-off-course. (It’s true. I sail. Sometimes when I’m writing.)

And then I heard my mom’s words in my ears.

Make a plan and god laughs. – Maya Hamburger

Serendipity

Today I read a Substack note by

Tim Denning

that rocked me. Heck, I had to Google what it means to “restack” because I was so excited to share it.

What he said knocked me off my feet. And here’s why.

Small nonprofits/businesses/startups know a lot about their focus.

And they know very little about the rest of it.

I mean, how can we possibly know the rest of it?

Funder Follies is dedicated to the absurdity of asking brilliant, but under-resourced, nonprofit leaders to meet the expectations of well-funded, influential foundations. (Even small foundations are well funded. They only give 5% of their assets away.)

So next week I’ll write about what I was going to write about now. [Nonprofit budgets. Believe me when I say that I can make spreadsheets sing. You won’t want to miss it! lol]

This week, I will share Tim’s highlights. Because I think they all apply to fundraising and nonprofits.

Photo by Júnior Ferreira on Unsplash

Here goes…

1. Listen more than you talk. This is a basic tenet of relationship building (and donor meetings). Tim describes it as “be quiet most of the time.”

2. Be a lifelong learner. My 95-year-old dad (who died 1 year ago today) was brilliant. He also thought he was the smartest person in the room. I took it as a lesson to be curious. We have so much to learn. (Or, as Tim says, “Read a lot.”)

3. Don’t be intimidated by power. Fundraisers, when we’re lucky, get to deal with people who have lots of money and success. (We’re not used to all those zeros after the $.) But people are just people. Tim says, “Highlight your achievements with grace,” but I’ll flip it. Don’t be awed by what people do; pay attention to how they are.

4. Laugh from your belly. If you can’t laugh at yourself, what is the point? Experiencing and sharing joy is the purpose of life. Tim said: “Take Yourself Less Seriously,” and I find that nonprofit staff are exceedingly good at this.

5. Find your people. I wish more foundations were nonprofits’ “people” and I believe that some are. I also realized I can invest in solidarity and recently joined ABFE.org in support of Black philanthropy, and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. These are my take on Tim’s words to: “Back away from negative energy.”

6. Be creative. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be an architect. But I thought that I wasn’t creative enough. Turns out that I’m super creative, but maybe not in an arts kind of way. Creativity comes in all shapes and sizes. Or, as Tim’ advises, “Schedule Blank Space” to just … think.

7. Be human. I wrote about our innate tendency to be good. Engage with people, not platforms. Or, as Tim said, “Consume Less News, Politics, Netflix.”

8. Celebrate small successes. Nonprofits solve serious problems and it’s heavy. So we need to find some ease – a few places where “we have this.” In Tim’s words it’s, “Make Friends with a Giraffe.” I think in means … have a champion who will stick their neck out for you.

9. Focus on your mission. There are so many distractions – lots of shiny bright things (or grants) to chase. But there is a time/money continuum. If you have identified a need, stick with it. Don’t get distracted. Tim calls it “Buy Your Time Back.”

10. You’ve written enough. A list of 10 sounds complete, but this is a list of nine. So think of it as a grant application that allows for 5,000 words but you can make the case in 685. It’s good to go.

Often others can say it better than we can. I’m grateful for the inspiration.