knowabundance.com

Happy Monday!

Ok, so we’ve established that:

1. What keeps us from knowing abundance in time is our inability to accept what we have – we always want more and,

2.  Time as we know it and live it is a mental construction.

But, while we’re working on being satisfied and playing around with our ability to shift our time perspective – we still have our endless to do lists and routine daily demands.

How do we “manage our time” and respond to what is happening?

We learn to value the process.

As much as we would like to skip the process and get right to our goal, that just isn’t possible – especially with fundraising – because everything is a process.

Which means every goal, every action – everything on our to do lists – is made up of steps.

Let’s use as an example – the goal of receiving a $1 million unrestricted bequest gift from a longtime supporter.

The process:

1. Your organization has a compelling mission with clearly defined goals and explicit need for support.
2. You craft a direct mail piece with specific examples of how every donation impacts and strengthens your work.
3. You receive a $15 donation from a new donor in response to your mailing.
4. You send a thank you letter welcoming your new donor and inviting her to contact you at any time with any questions she may have.
5. Years pass, and this new donor becomes a consistent supporter, making small gifts of $15 in response to all of your annual and special appeals.
6. You or someone from your organization is traveling to the town where this donor lives and you organize a gathering (any size – could be a simple lunch or larger house party) for all local donors.
7. You meet this donor at the event and learn more about what her interests are and why she is committed to funding your work.
8. You send a thank you note expressing your pleasure at having met her and thanking her for her long time support.
9. You enter this information into your database and make a note to send articles and program updates on issues that are important to this donor.
10. Your database prompts you with reminders to send these periodic personal updates.
11. This donor responds to a planned giving insert that was included in the thank you letter for her last gift. She tells you she has included your organization in her will.
12. You call her and personally thank her for this commitment (and if appropriate, gather more information about the type of planned gift.)
13. At least once a year you send personalized correspondence (with program content and no direct appeal) to all your legacy donors updating them on how your organization is meeting needs in the community and creating positive and lasting change.
14. Years pass (in which your organization continues to receive high ratings from Charity Navigator, GuideStar and BBB Wise Giving Alliance.)
15. You receive a letter in the mail from a trust officer letting you know that this donor has passed away and that your organization will be receiving $1 million.
16. You recognize the amazing generosity of this individual with a press release and tribute in your communications pieces (Annual Report, Newsletter, website/blog) with concrete examples of the impact her money will have.

Quite a list of steps isn’t it? And as you probably noticed, this is a mini version of the actual process as each of the steps includes its own process (like developing a direct mail piece, organizing an event, or the organization continuing to receive high ratings for good work.)

There are always other people involved in the process as well – which means adding meetings, coordination and planning to the list.

Plus the reality that we will mostly likely enter and leave the process before the goal is reached and that there are concurrent processes in motion at various stages with every donor and prospect.

If the goal is all that matters we will spend 99% of our time feeling impatient with what we are doing because we’re not at the goal.

And even once we reach a goal there are always more steps after the goal (i.e. thanking the donor for her gift and continuing to develop the relationship) so every goal becomes another step in the process.

Value the process – let everything you do become as important as your goal.

You have to go through the process anyway – why not enjoy yourself each step of the way?

(This post is #3 in a 5 part series on Time)