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Here’s a bit of wisdom that really spoke to me this week, especially as we navigate this particular season at this particular moment in our shared world…

Throwing shade or throwing light?

“One takes a little more effort than the other.

While throwing shade might be more fun, it eventually runs out of energy. It’s designed to end conversations, not start them, to intimidate, not encourage.

Turning on lights helps everyone.”

— Seth Godin

This week’s Clairity Click-it is dedicated to turning on the lights. For you as a practitioner, but also for you as a person. A person helping turn on the lights for other people. A person helping those other people turn on the lights for still more people. And so on and so forth. Until the ripples and rays of light shine so brightly there is no dark corner where sorrow, poverty, illness, despair, cruelty, bigotry, ignorance or injustice can hide.

As I shared in the last issue of this newsletter, Seth Godin also notes: “Generosity and gratitude often go together. They light a path on the way to better.” 

The content I’ve collected is all designed to light the way forward so you can inspire others to join your important mission to make our world a better place. I encourage you to dig through this curated content from across the web and pick one or more doable strategies. Approach this with a learning mindset, vowing to find at least one thing you’ll do a bit differently (if not today, then tomorrow; save the idea and put it on your calendar so you’re sure to revisit it at the appropriate time). As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful to you.

It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to succeed.

Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,

Claire

claire@clairification.com

P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]

Let’s begin with this week’s bit of wisdom…

“Let us conceive of gratitude in its largest, most beautiful sense, that if we receive any kindness we are debtor, not merely to one man, but to the whole world. As we are each day indebted to thousands for the comforts, joys, consolations, and blessings of life, let us realize that it is only by kindness to all that we can begin to repay the debt to one, begin to make gratitude the atmosphere of all our living and a constant expression in outward acts, rather than in mere thoughts. 

Let us see the awful cowardice and the injustice of ingratitude, not to take it too seriously in others, not to condemn it too severely, but merely to banish it forever from our own lives, and to make every hour of our living the radiation of the sweetness of gratitude.”

— William George Jordan, The Courage to Face Ingratitude

As you’re planning ahead, and readying your year-end fundraising initiatives, take a little time to think about what, and who, you are grateful for. Approaching this time of year from a place of abundance rather than scarcity will not only reduce your stress but will also inspire people to want to join your mission. We all prefer to join a rising tide rather than a sinking boat. Optimism is contagious, and will motivate people to connect with you. And stick with you. Because… it feels good. 

The magic of gratitude is it improves everything it touches, you included. As Seth Godin notes: “Generosity and gratitude often go together. They light a path on the way to better.” 

So, as you enter the year-end scramble for donor dollars, don’t forget to express gratitude. Donor generosity will follow. In this regard, I commend this article from Steven Screen of The Better Fundraising Co.: The Antidote to Fundraising Fear Is…

This week’s Clairity Click-it will give you help to move forward with the best approaches. As always, I encourage you to dig through this curated content from across the web and pick one or more doable strategies. Approach this with a learning mindset, vowing to find at least one thing you’ll do a bit differently (if not today, then tomorrow; save the idea and put it on your calendar so you’re sure to revisit it at the appropriate time). As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful to you.

It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to succeed.

Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,

Claire

claire@clairification.com

P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]

Let’s begin with this week’s bit of wisdom…

The reluctant spammer

“I don’t want to send this pitch to a list of every single podcaster in the world, but we have to get the word out.”

“I don’t want to send an email to every one of our previous donors every three days until they unsubscribe, but our work is so important, it has to be done.”

“I don’t want to robocall every person in the district, but if I don’t, our campaign has no chance… the other guy is even more aggressive than we are.”

Except there’s an “except.”

Except that all the organizations before you that have reluctantly raced to the bottom aren’t happy that they did. They’re not thriving and they might not even be around any more.

The reason that our attention has been strip-mined is that the system that evolved seems to reward short-term players that take the direct, easy, and lazy way out. While it seems like we have no choice, in fact, we have a very obvious one.

It turns out that finding, connecting and respecting a small group of supporters and customers always outperforms the hustle for more. And that if you can create a remarkable story that’s worth spreading, it’ll spread. Not because you need it to, but because your customers do.

Reluctant or not, spam is still spam. If you can’t imagine wanting to receive it, don’t send it.

— Seth Godin

Read Godin’s last paragraph and last sentence again. As you enter the year-end scramble for donor dollars, don’t forget to be human.  It’s important to connect at this most generous time of year. But the operative word here is “connect.” Think from your message recipient’s perspective. Ask: How will they feel when they see, hear or read this? What will it incline them to do? If your answer is not the result you want, re-think your strategy.

I hope you’ll use some of the wisdom offered in this week’s Clairity Click-it to help you move forward with the best solutions. Start digging through the curated content from across the web and pick one or more doable strategies. Whatever you do, don’t do nothing!

As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to succeed.

Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,

Claire

claire@clairification.com

P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]

Let’s begin with this week’s bit of wisdom…

Confusion and certainty

When facing a complex problem, it’s easy to become confused.

Lately, it’s become socially acceptable to express your confusion with certainty. Untrained in the field, make a pronouncement that makes it clear that you have not just an understanding of what’s going on, but also that you’ve figured out the causes and the next steps.

The thing is, confusion shared often leads to the learning we need to become productive as we move forward. “I don’t understand this part,” is a great thing to say before someone helps you understand it.

On the other hand, certainty is almost guaranteed to maintain your confusion, particularly when the thing you were sure was going to work, doesn’t.

— Seth Godin

This spoke to me this week, as we are surely living in confusing, uncertain times.  Have you succumbed to the temptation to assuredly pontificate, taking a position that’s probably an inch deep? To really be sure, what other information could/should you seek?

This “confusion and certainty” conundrum plays out in both our personal and professional lives. When I was in law school, I learned to “plausibly assert, and forcefully maintain.” This may be good for winning lawsuits, but does it contribute to a just, fair and greater good?

I would say “not so much.”  And in your role as a nonprofit professional or volunteer, you want to contribute more than simply confusion painted over with lipstick. You want answers – but, first, you must ask the right questions.

The Clairity Click-it is designed to provide you with content to help you better understand your challenges so you can move forward with the best solutions. Use some of the resources in this week’s issue to help you pick one or more doable strategies. Start digging through the curated content from across the web and, whatever you do, don’t do nothing!

As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful to you.

It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to succeed.

Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,

Claire

claire@clairification.com

P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]

*If you live where this weekend ends daylight savings time, don’t forget to “fall back” and grab your extra hour this Sunday. 🙂

Throwing shade or throwing light?

One takes a little more effort than the other.

While throwing shade might be more fun, it eventually runs out of energy. It’s designed to end conversations, not start them, to intimidate, not encourage.

Turning on lights helps everyone.

— Seth Godin

You are on a meaning-seeking journey. Through your work, you create positive change and make lives easier and better. One person, family, community, region at a time.  Your donors seek the same.

Part of your job is to bring meaning, not just to the beneficiaries of your organization’s mission but also to the people who contribute towards your meaningful outcomes.

It turns out when you consider what brings meaning and value to philanthropists – donors and volunteers – you do a more effective job creating abundance all around.

Use some of the resources in this week’s issue of the Clairity Click-it to help you on your journey. And to help your supporters on theirs. Whatever your role, you’ll find something in this issue to nourish you. So, start digging through the curated content from across the web. I hope it will make your job easier, and more fulfilling. Get curious!

As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful to you.

It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to succeed.

Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,

Claire

claire@clairification.com

P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]

“We are meaning-seeking creatures. Dogs, as far as we know, do not agonize about the canine condition, worry about the plight of dogs in other parts of the world, or try to see their lives from a different perspective. But human beings fall easily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented stories that enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed an underlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value” 

― Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth

You are on a meaning-seeking journey. Through your work, you create positive change and make lives easier and better. One person, family, community, region at a time.  Your donors seek the same.

Part of your job is to bring meaning, not just to the beneficiaries of your organization’s mission but also to the people who contribute towards your meaningful outcomes.

It turns out when you consider what brings meaning and value to philanthropists – donors and volunteers – you do a more effective job creating abundance all around.

Use some of the resources in this week’s issue of the Clairity Click-it to help you on your journey. And to help your supporters on theirs. Whatever your role, you’ll find something in this issue to nourish you. So, start digging through the curated content from across the web. I hope it will make your job easier, and more fulfilling. Get curious!

As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful to you.

It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to succeed.

Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,

Claire

claire@clairification.com

P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]

Are you doing what you said you wanted to do?

If you want to be a poet, write poetry. Every day. Show us your work.

If you want to do improv, start a troupe. Don’t wait to get picked.

If you want to help animals, don’t wait for vet school. Volunteer at an animal shelter right now.

If you want to write a screenplay, write a screenplay.

If you want to do marketing, find a good cause and spread the idea. Don’t ask first.

If you’d like to be more strategic or human or caring at your job, don’t wait for the boss to ask.

Once we leave out the “and” (as in, I want to do this and be well paid, invited, approved of and always successful) then it’s way easier to do what we said we wanted to do.

— Seth Godin

Do you want to raise a bunch of money before the end of the year? More than last year?  Then, as the folks at Nike say, “Just Do It.”

No ifs, ands or buts. Stop making excuses.  You can do this! Give folks opportunities – more than a few – to make a demonstrable impact. Give them meaning and purpose. Make yourself, your donors, your community and the world feel just a little bit better. Move the needle, every day.

And use some of the wisdom gleaned in this week’s issue of the Clairity Click-it to help you. Whatever your role, you’ll find something in this issue to nourish you. So, start digging through the curated content from across the web. I hope it will make your job easier, and more fulfilling. There’s lots to get curious about!

As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful to you.

It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to succeed.

Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,

Claire

claire@clairification.com

P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]

This is the magic season for fundraising. Why? Because as we approach what I call the “Grateful for Blessings Holidays” (emotional trigger) and the end of the calendar year (financial/tax trigger), people naturally turn their thoughts toward generosity and philanthropic giving. The fairy dust is already in the air, just waiting for you to wave your magic wand to propel it into action.

This means it’s time for you to think about what you’re going to do to tap into what’s going on right now in people’s heads and hearts. Especially their hearts, as for most people tax benefits is way, way, way down on the list of reasons why they give.

As you prepare your year-end pitches, consider how you might wave your wand to encourage would-be donors to become part of your story. Show them how to make a difference. How to bring joy to sadness… hope to despair… healing to hurt. How to bring the happy ending they, and you, wish to see.

And use some of the wisdom gleaned in this week’s issue of the Clairity Click-it to help you. Whatever your role, you’ll find something in this issue to nourish you. So, start digging through the curated content from across the web. I hope it will make your job easier, and more fulfilling. There’s lots to get curious about!

As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful to you.

It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to make our world a better place.

Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,

Claire

claire@clairification.com

P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price. For a modest $100/year donation you get all my new blog articles, exclusive monthly tips, bonus e-guides, templates and worksheets, course and product discounts, and access to archived posts, webinars, and podcasts. I am deeply appreciative for your support!  [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]

As you’re planning ahead, and readying your year-end fundraising initiatives, take a little time to think about your communication delivery mediums. Not to mention your message content. Are you reaching the right audiences, and making it easy for them? Are you sharing messaging that’s relevant, and authentically you?

Take some inspiration from the inimitable Seth Godin:

Little billboards

On the West Side Highway in Manhattan, there’s currently a billboard for some sort of placebo supplement. In the corner is a QR code for more information.

Unless the person in the passenger seat has a telephoto lens on their phone, there’s no way in the world that this is going to work.

My late friend Jay Levinson said that the most effective billboard would say, “FREE COFFEE, NEXT EXIT.” A call to action, relevant to the viewer, easy to see and understand.

Actual billboards are a whole category of media, but now we’re surrounded by a new kind, a smaller, more evanescent and common one: Social media posts. You might see a thousand of these a day.

Social media began as text updates from one human to another, but thanks to photo sharing, some of the posts have become something else entirely. A chance to create consistent, actionable and clear reminders of what you are and what you stand for.

But keeping Jay’s edict in mind, they work best when they’re about the viewer as much as they are about you. They work better when they can be seen and understood from a distance. And they work better when they “sound like you.”

I publish the Clairity Click-it to offer all kinds of resources for all kinds of nonprofit consumers. Whatever your role, you’ll find something in this issue to nourish you. So, start digging through the curated content from across the web. I hope it will make your job easier, and more fulfilling. There’s lots to get curious about!

As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful to you.

It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to make our world a better place.

Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,

Claire

claire@clairification.com

P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price. For a modest $100/year donation you get all my new blog articles, exclusive monthly tips, bonus e-guides, templates and worksheets, course and product discounts, and access to archived posts, webinars, and podcasts. I am deeply appreciative for your support!  [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]

The dog days of summer (in the northern hemisphere) bring with them a bit of time for reflection. As you laze on a beach (or visit one in a reverie, watching kids make sandcastles and dodge waves), take a bit of time for personal reflection. Breathe. Relax.  Ask yourself: What’s really important?

Which brings me to this week’s bit of wisdom…

“Is that the most important thing?”

“If you want to have an argument, to raise tempers or to distract, the easiest thing to do is start bringing up things that are easy to argue about.

Not the things that are important.

Because the important things require nuance, patience and understanding. They require an understanding of goals, of the way the world works and our mutual respect.

If someone keeps coming back to an irrelevant, urgent or provocative point instead, they’re signaling that they’d rather not talk about the important thing.

Which is precisely what we need to talk about.”

— Seth Godin

This may resonate on both a meta and micro level.  For today, I’d like you to think about this in terms of the people with whom you work.  Probe for what’s most important.  Don’t get sidetracked by the complaint about the messy desk, bathtub ring, toothpaste tube or whatever type of distraction is raised. What’s really at the bottom of the other person’s argument?

It’s only when you dig, thoughtfully, that you’ll be able to make sense of what might otherwise appear irrational.  Always consider:  Where might this person (e.g., your boss, board member, co-worker, direct report, donor, volunteer) being coming from?

You’ll find lots more wisdom and actionable tips in this issue of the Clairity Click-it.  As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful to you.

Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,

Claire

claire@clairification.com

P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price. For a modest $100/year donation you get all my new blog articles, monthly tips (July’s are now live!), bonus tips, templates and worksheets, course and product discounts, and access to archived posts, webinars, and podcasts. I am deeply appreciative for your support!  [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]