Finding Balance

Being in school right now, I'm finding it hard to do this. I have a feeling it's going to be worse when I start TWZ because I'm just going to want to focus on it ALL the time. But I can't let it consume me because even though I don't have kids, I have a husband. And he'll need attention, too. I love to read and I want to find time for that. I love to write, but my muse has left me since I've been in school. I can't let that die. One of my favorite people, Tom Suddes, had something to say about that....


SEEK BALANCE. The idea that you can’t have reasonable ‘BALANCE’ seems absurd to me.

It’s your life. If given the choice of balancing your work, business, career with your LIFE, why wouldn’t we always choose LIFE?

When somebody says, “Get a life“, that’s what they mean. Make a life… not a living.
We’re all terminally ill. I’ve been around a lot of workaholics and ‘busy’, ‘busy’ people. They’re all going to die. When you talk to old people like me, they will remind you that your children will never be this age again. Your parents will eventually be gone. Your brothers and sisters will be spread around the country. (And, if they’re really honest, they”ll tell you that the whole ‘quality time’ vs. ‘actual time’ is just a cop out.)


Master motivator Zig Ziglar says,

“TRUE SUCCESS REQUIRES BALANCE.”

He goes on to say that

“SUCCESS is only real if it encompasses

physical, mental, spirit,

relationships, career and finances.”

Don’t listen to all the people who tell you that BALANCE is impossible. If something has to give… then CHOOSE LIFE.

FOR IMPACT Afternoon Session: JUST ASK! Share the Story – Present the Opportunity

Hosted by the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and Tom Suddes of the Suddes Group

Date: November 29, 2011 Time: 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm

Location: Phoenix Catholic Diocese, 400 E. Monroe, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Just Ask! Just Ask! Just Ask! Get a VISIT… With a Qualified Prospect…to Share the Story…to Present the Opportunity…Shoulder-to-Shoulder…to Fund the Vision. Tom will present strategies on how to structure the visits and provide tools and techniques to give you the confidence you need to “Just Ask!!! You will learn how to create great Engagement Tools that can facilitate terrific dialogue, communicate stats & stories, foster engagement and interaction and GRAB PEOPLE’S ATTENTION!

Normally, I am significantly uplifted after leaving a Tom Suddes workshop. This one felt a little flat to me. Maybe because 1) He was tired after jumping on top of the podium during the first half of the workshop (wish I'd seen that. He didn't do that the first time I saw him) or 2) It was an all-day workshop and even though I'd already attended the first one over a year ago, I felt like I should've gone because I felt as though I missed some info. Which I did.

But I always leave with some words of wisdom and Tom never fails to drop some good ones:

• Find like-kind people who believe in your mission to serve on your board.
• ROI - about logic and magic, stats and stories, math and people.
• Selling is not telling unless it's a story.
• Presentation design - who goes with you on the visit? Predisposition hands-on or visual.
• The goal is to get the commensurate gift to campaign. 
• When presenting it should be in the format of You/Them/Us: You: 2 bullet points and the 3rd bullet is relationship to organization. Them: ask questions about them. Us: reason for visit (Ask "Do you know about we do?").
• In regards to qualified prospects: Identify, Prioritize, Strategize. Identify (low hanging fruit, referrals, ideal profiles, magic formula, target sectors, Women Rule! Prioritize (master prospect list)
• Champion - for your organization
• Invite - others to get engaged
• Invest - should make commensurate gift

Something to think about: Before the second session started, I had lunch at the location and sat with two ladies. They asked the typical get-to-know-you questions and when I told them what I wanted to do, one of the ladies said, "Oooh. You could be like one of those mobile libraries. But for creative writing. You could get yourself one of those camper-type things and just park on school grounds and have the school put out a sign or something to let them know you're there." Huh.

Gimme a W, Gimme an H, Gimme a Y

Funding ideas, motivational nuggets and stories from For Impact

Tom Suddes, of The Suddes Group, summarizes Simon Sinek's book Start with Why:

Essence of his message:

People don’t buy what you do... they buy why you do it.

Mediocre organizations and leaders always sell 'outside-in'... talking about WHAT, then HOW (features, benefits).. never even getting to the WHY.

Great leaders sell 'inside-out'... leading with the WHY.

Keeping it Simple

Funding ideas, motivational nuggets and stories from For Impact

SIMPLE = SUCCESS.
SIMPLICITY IS EVERYTHING!

• SIMPLICITY is POWER. ('Knowledge' doesn't mean anything.)
• SIMPLICITY exponentially increases UNDERSTANDING. (Complexity obfuscates understanding, much like using the word ‘obfuscates’.)
• SIMPLICITY is about CLARITY. (The clearer your ideas, directions, goals… the better.)

SIMPLICITY is actually a way of life for great For Impact organizations!

BUILD SIMPLE:

SIMPLE VISION.
SIMPLE MESSAGE.
SIMPLE CIRCLES.
SIMPLE DESIGN.
SIMPLE FUNDING PLANS.
SIMPLE PRESENTATIONS.

Creating a Funding Rationale

I've had the pleasure of attending one of Tom Suddes', founder of The Suddes Group, workshops and have to say that the 4 hours we were with him was not good enough. He needs to do monthly workshops here. I totally got fired up after the workshop with him and have since become a subscriber of his W.O.W. newsletter. Just little words of wisdom taken from different posts on the website.

This one was about creating a Funding Rationale:

Essentially there are three ways to create funding rationale – three P’s. You can ask someone to invest in:

A PLAN

A PROGRAM

A PERSON

To read this post in its entirety, go HERE.

4th Annual Nonprofit Business Summit, May 3rd 201: Part I

Effective Board Development and Assessment
Patricia Lewis, ACFRE
Sr. Professional-in-Residence
ASU Lodestar Center for Philosophy and Nonprofit Innovation

Having an engaged, motivated Board of Directors is the key to running a successful, sustainable nonprofit organization.  This workshop describes the entrepreneurial perspective of an organization, and the Board’s role in fund raising and leadership. The Board’s role in annual fund programs including special event fundraising, major gifts, board/staff solicitations, sponsorships, and in-kind goods/services will be covered in this workshop.

Ms. Lewis provided a copy of the PowerPoint for this breakout session for those that left business cards for her. I definitely took advantage. It's a 42-paged document that will make a good reference guide.

A few things I learned:

The core responsibilities of a board are:
~ Vision/Mission
~ Policy
~ Strategic Planning
~ Fiduciary
~ Resources
~ Board Development
~ Community Liason
~ Government Relations
~ Employer of Chief Staff Person
~ Leadership

Engaged Board Members ACT:
~ Regular attendance
~ Prepared to discuss, make decisions, contribute
~ With knowledge of organization, programs/services, customers
~ Are out in the community promoting organization
~ To keep current on related issues: journals, conferences, etc.

Advocacy and Lobbying - Can nonprofits do it? Apparently they can, but walking a fine line in doing so.
~ A policy-led activity
~ Furthers the mission
~ Intensity increases as needed: public education, gov't relations, advocacy, lobbying
~ No restrictions until lobbying activity
501(c)(3)s - IRS allows $1 million, by gradation, based upon total expenditures
501(c)(4)s and (6)s do not have same restrictions

To be honest, I'm not real a political person. I consider myself Switzerland. At this point, I'm going to say that TWZ will not be dipping its toes in political ponds and the board will have to sign something to that effect. They can be asses, elephants or Switzerland in their personal lives. But if they're representing TWZ, they're going to be Switzerland.

Board's Role in FUNdraising:
~ Leadership
~ Ethics
~ Planning
~ Contacts
~ Passion
~ Contacts
~ Involvement
~ Creativity
~ Business acumen
~ Risk
~ Change
~ Evaluation
~ Fun

There were a lot of questions from the audience about board members balking at the idea of fundraising. The overall consensus is that it has to be done, but board members should know upfront if it's expected of them. Hildy Gotlieb, co-founder of Creating the Future, was a guest speaker at the Summit. On her site, she has an article about boards and fundraising.

On the other hand, Tom Suddes of the Suddes Group (love this guy), says that the board is NOT responsible for fundraising.

Overall, it's been interesting to hear about the different sides regarding this hot button of an issue. What I like is that whether it's a "should" or a "should not", there is information to back-up each claim. Tom says no and here's why. Hildy says yes, but here's a better way to do it so it's not so icky.

I love the idea that I'm learning this from scratch and can create my own options by using--and piecing together--techniques that will work for my own organization.