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(Today’s post is from Elizabeth Husserl, our money expert.)

As fund raisers we can often feel the awkwardness that comes with asking for money.

We know that our donors want to support our causes and are willing to put their checkbook forward when we do our yearly appeals. Yet, even knowing that we are channeling money to something worthwhile does not make the awkwardness go away.

What would money say? “Don’t be afraid to ask for me”. The more clarity you have on what you need, the more you can accurately communicate that to the world around you and the more you can relax into knowing that there is enough.

In the work I do with individuals and groups, the scariest moment often comes when I ask people to look at their money flow- how exactly does money flow into and out of their lives? This feels terrifying at first because it means looking, it means knowing, and it means facing up to any discrepancies that arise.

But when we go through the exercise and put the numbers down on paper we see that the numbers really just want to talk- they tell us what we need to make our projects and lives a reality. They give us a cornerstone on which to base our plans.

By looking at numbers and doing the “budgets” (or what I prefer to call conscious spending plans) we can then take a deeper step into our projects, our organizations and our lives. We can move beyond the fogginess of “not knowing” into a place of clarity and empowerment where asking becomes more of a spiritual practice of communicating to life that you do know what you need in life.

The question then becomes- how can the flow of abundance provide? (The trick here is then to let abundance flow to you without being attached to what that looks like.)

Ask money to come to you. Look at the dialogue you are currently having with it. Don’t be afraid to invite more into your life- you are big enough to hold it.

Happy Monday!
- Elizabeth

(Happy Monday! Today’s post is from Elizabeth Husserl, our money expert.)

As fundraisers, money comes with the territory. We are constantly asking for it, receiving it and hopefully finding enough of it to support our good causes.

We all have a unique money personality. And the people who fund our causes have them too.

Why is it important that we know our money personalities and the money personalities of our donors?

Because our money personality determines our relationship with money, how we ask for it and how we give it away.

For example, we might have a donor who has an “Innocent” archetype or personality, they may really want to give but feel overwhelmed at the steps of following through. Will it be a complicated process? Will it mean jeopardizing their own sense of financial safety and security? The “Innocent” values safety at all cost.

A “Tyrant” archetype likes to hoard. They often have a lot of money and are great prospects for giving, but have trouble letting the money go. Their growing edge is to open the hand that holds and to connect to the deeper needs that are asking to be healed, which can often happen by contributing to causes they believe in. Both of these archetypes may have a similar difficulty in allowing their money to flow, yet require different strategies.

Knowing your own money personality will help you recognize those in others. Feel free to email me at ehusserl@hotmail.com if you would like more in depth information on various money types and how to work with them. You can also read Money Magic by Deborah Price.

For now I leave you with 5 money personality insights to illuminate your day:

1. You are not your money personality, but your money personalities work through you. If you are too anxious to look at your “money matters” or in this case your money personality, out of anxiety, paralysis or fear that it determines who you are, financial “fuzziness” will never be lifted. Don’t be fooled- you are not your money personality- your different money personalities speak through you to give you important information on how to best manage your money life.

2. Your money personality doesn’t disappear because you don’t look at. If we don’t pay attention to our money personalities they will act out in louder and more extreme ways. Money personalities continue to exist regardless of how conscious or unconscious we are to them. Like finally deciding to face your bills, if you square your shoulders at your money personalit(ies) you actually may be surprised at what’s in store.

3. Your money personality has an important message for you. For example the “Innocent” personality desperately needs more information and a financial team of support. The message here is “you do not have to do it alone.” All of the personalities have something important to say. The sooner you pay attention, the quicker your money personality will work with you instead of against you.

4. Different personalities require different strategies. We do not fit into one box. We are all too different and unique to be molded into one. Our money personalities are the same. Get to know the different personalities that you inherited or acquired along the way and understand your unique take to money. Avoid the headache of doing it blindly.

5. No matter how much work you do to better manage your money, if you don’t look at your money personality, it will rule your financial life! Like a partner or spouse who absolutely hates being ignored, so do these different parts of us. No one likes not being seen and we act out of line until we get the attention we deserve. So next time your money anxiety is knocking on the door, stop, TAKE A DEEP BREATH, put the bill down (momentarily), and ask that voice or feeling, “Who are you? What do you want? What are you trying to say?”

Like any relationship, it is conscious conversation, compassion, and love that creates lasting change.

(Happy Monday! Today’s post comes from Elizabeth Husserl R. She’s joining Know Abundance as our Money Expert. You can read her bio here and visit her website at Inner Economics. Thanks for joining us Elizabeth! We look forward to your monthly insights on this favorite fundraiser topic.)

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As a fundraiser have you ever felt perplexed by the complexities of economics and money?

Or been boggled by the intricacy of dealing with people who have enough money to sustain a fulfilling lifestyle, but never quite seem fulfilled?

I have…and for the last ten years I have been birthing a perspective that I have come to call Inner Economics to counteract the definition of economics that I was taught in high school which was “economics is the allocation of scarce resources.”

This was a definition that only gave way to a mentality of scarcity. Yet I inherently knew that there was indeed enough to go around.

All aspects of life (including fundraising) contain cycles of birth and death, recession and development, depression and growth. I knew that if all these life cycles were integrated into a healthier vision of economics and money, we would one day experience sustainability from within.

Inner Economics is a process of becoming aware of how economics and your relationship to money play out in your life. It is a new envisioning of Economics that finds its roots in the old – reclaiming the essence of the word “Economics” by going back to its Greek root: oikos-nomos (oiko + nemein) which really means”management of the household.”

If we can learn better how to manage our inner resources, we can better inhabit our inner home. We can embody a knowing of sustainability or a knowing of abundance that keeps us centered in our core. This is true stability.

In the following months my desire is to help you all connect to a healthier relationship to sustainability, to money and in essence to abundance. To really know abundance means not just “knowing” what abundance is in our mind, but to actually feel it and embody it in our hearts, bodies and souls. This requires trust. And we need to “touch” to trust.

So I will invite all of you to take one first step in “touching” abundance by answering the following question and digging deep:

• What sustains you in life? Really….what gives you sustenance, what makes you feel most alive?
Write out a list of your answers, letting it be different from a list of what you are grateful for.

Don’t be afraid if you don’t quite know. That is a natural step in peeling back a layer. Staying in the unknown is a skill and it is sometimes better to just ask the question than to know the answer.

Trust that by opening a process of knowing yourself you open a door to knowing abundance. The more you embody this, the more abundance and sustainability will come from within. And that my friends, is a radical revolution!

Happy questioning! And please feel free to comment on this experience or email me at ehusserl (at) innereconomics (dot) com. May your courage and questions inspire all of us!

Warmly,
Elizabeth

Happy Monday!

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard Kiva.org mentioned in the past few months as the best example of a smart giving vehicle.

(Kiva facilitates on-line transfers of money between lenders and microfinance groups making loans to people living in poverty.)

While I like Kiva their primary function is lending, not giving. And there is a difference.

When I lend money there is the expectation that I will get it back (usually with interest.) The money is still “mine” and I am just letting someone else borrow it.

When I give money I let it go. I release control of the money as “mine.”

Giving money is radical in a world where money is seen as the most important thing in life. We all want more of it. Why would we give it away?

If you spend any time around young kids playing together you invariably hear or participate in this exchange:

“It’s mine! That’s mine.”

A scuffle, tug of war, hitting and/or crying ensues as one child tries to maintain control of the item that has been labeled “mine.“

The parent/adult steps in to mediate with the admonition, “Share. You need to share.”

Fundraising is our grown up way of sharing. In giving we remember that it is ok to let go of what we have labeled as “mine.”

Sure, lending is important too and as we’ve seen with successful microfinance programs, lending can be a powerful positive change tool for people disadvantaged by poverty and living without access to capital.

But let’s not confuse lending with giving and miss the opportunity to explore the land beyond “that’s mine.”

Happy Monday!

I went to a fundraising dinner on Saturday night where more than $45,000 was raised in less than 10 minutes.

I also went to the mall on Saturday to buy a top to wear to the dinner. The mall was Christmas-time packed with long lines in every store I entered or walked by.

Even in “these economic times,” there is money. People are buying things they want and giving to causes they care about.

There was no lamenting over the economy during the dinner program. Every speaker focused on core mission and impact.

Personal stories were shared highlighting:

1. the need/problem
2. the solution
3. what had been accomplished so far (because of our support)
4. the continuing need
5. how this need was going to be met (with our support)

Given the challenge “Are you in?” from a dynamic speaker, the stage was set for the fundraising ask. And people responded. $10,000, $2,500, $1,000, $500, $100, $25 gifts were enthusiastically made and gratefully received.

There is money. We might not be raising as much as we did last year – but people are still willing to give.

Adjusting to change, especially change we don’t particularly want and didn’t ask for, can be difficult. We can become myopically focused on what used to be or what we wish was.

Babysitting for a friend this week, I watched her five-year-old daughter dissolve into total misery when she couldn’t have what she wanted. We were eating lunch and she had her food, but wanted it in a blue bowl (which her sister had.)

She became fixated on what she didn’t have, refusing to eat. All she could see was the blue bowl she wanted – not the food that was in the purple bowl she had.

We’re like this sometimes. We focus intently on what we can’t have or what we wish we had and stubbornly refuse to enjoy what we have because it’s not exactly what we wanted (or what we see that someone else has.)

The person who led the giving spree came by our table afterwards feeling discouraged. “I didn’t get any gifts at the $5,000 level.”  Focused on what wasn’t received, he was disappointed.

When the need is great, we can easily slip into seeing only what is lacking. Step back for a minute. What is in your bowl?

Happy Monday!

We often live as if money is the most important thing.

We hear (and believe?) that time is money, happiness is money, success is money, power is money, freedom is money. Or the inverse: money is time, money is happiness, money is success, money is power, money is freedom.

We have created a world where we can (theoretically) buy whatever we want. Everything is for sale. We can purchase time, happiness, success, power and freedom. Money is the most important thing because money gets us what we want.

But what is money?

Money is, “a current medium of exchange.” What is necessary for exchange? Relationship. What gives a piece of paper with pictures and words on it value? Our relationship with that piece of paper – our collective, accepted belief that the piece of paper means something – is what creates the value.

Money relies on the relationship of our (shared) mental concept with the piece of paper for its existence and on the relationship of buyers and sellers, employers and employees, fundraisers and donors for the exchange.

Money is nothing without relationship.

And what about time? How do we measure time? In relationship. We observe the relationship of sun, moon and earth. We create concepts of light and dark, of more and less, and we gauge them in relation to each other. We call more light, “day” and less light, “night.” We assign numbers to our descriptions and then calculate the relationship of these numbers on our clocks to create a meaning of time.

How do we distinguish past, present and future? By their relationship to each other: Here we are in Now, and this (idea, story, memory, experience, goal) that we are thinking of is not happening Now, so it is either past (already happened) or future (hasn’t happened yet.)

Time has no meaning without relationship.

And happiness? What is happiness? Everyone has his or her own definition of happiness. How do we know whether we are happy or not? Through the relationship of our idea of happiness with what is.

We evaluate happiness by comparing what is happening (present) or what has happened (past) or what we plan to have happen (future) to our idea of what happiness is. Is our idea of happiness what is happening? Then we are happy.

Happiness is defined by relationship.

And success? How do we know what success is? We assign value to certain ideas, we create a concept of what “success is” and what “success is not” and then we determine success through the relationship of these concepts to each other.

Success is determined by relationship.

And power? What is power if there is nothing to exert power over, or power with or power to?

Power exists in relationship.

And freedom? One of our most cherished ideals. To not have freedom, something or someone has to be constricting, denying or taking away our freedom. We give up freedom for, grant freedom to, win freedom from, something or someone. Without this something or someone, all we know is freedom.

Freedom can only be restricted, granted or denied in relationship.

What do money, time, happiness, success, power and freedom all have in common? Relationship. They are defined and determined by, exist and are valued and experienced in, relationship.

Relationship is the most important thing.

So as we listen to the economic news and count the dollars in our bank account and as we look at our giving charts, segment our supporters into categories and plan strategies for meeting our fundraising goals – we can remind ourselves that money is not the most important thing – relationship is.

Loosing sight of this is easy to do because our jobs are defined by getting the money. With this pressure, money can seem like the most important thing. But relationship is what brings and keeps the money flowing to support the work. Money is just an exchange, which takes places in relationship.

The key question to ask then is, “What is the quality of our relationship with our supporters?” Do we see them as  “cash cows” or as partners in the work? Are they just a means to an end or vital players in the actualization of our mission?

As you answer these questions and work to raise money to support your cause, remember that relationship is more important than money.

Welcome to Know Abundance!

A new positive thinking blog for fundraisers – and anyone else looking to supplant scarcity mentality with abundant living.

Delivered fresh every Monday – just when you need a dose of positivity to get your fundraising act in gear.

Know Abundance is living and working from the awareness that there is nothing you need that you don’t already have.

This blog is for you if:

• you worry about how to raise money to support your organization
• you stress about how to get everything done
• you wonder how to manage donor (and your own) fears about economy

Posted every Monday, Know Abundance is:

• fundraising from plenty and gratitude
• positive thinking to help you navigate your work week
• perspective to widen your outlook beyond daily headlines

Know Abundance is a shared journey. I, like you, am learning to live and work in new ways. To shed the thought patterns and beliefs that keep us trapped in a never-ending scramble for time, money, resources, and market share. To embrace the mantra, “Everything I need I already have.”

I know how hard you are working to bring into reality your vision of a better world. Know Abundance is for you. The weekly posts offer tools to see your worry, stress and fears in a different light, to know abundance even in the midst of scarcity.

Coming up in January:

Jan. 12 – Why think positive?

Jan. 19 – Live Your Dreams Today

Jan. 26 – Scarcity as Reality is Relative

I welcome your comments, questions and participation as we learn together.