Dear Friends,

I am taking my blogging commitment seriously and plan to write more frequently so as to keep you reading and engaged! Last week, I referenced the importance of communicating with your donors and taking the extra step to keep in touch even when there are no pressing issues to discuss. If you haven’t had the opportunity to read that entry yet, please check it out!

One of the things that caused me to scramble and allowed me to neglect my blogs was losing power during the freak blizzard that hit most of Connecticut and other regions on 10/28.  I was without power for 8 days – a trying ordeal that had me visiting local coffee shops, my gym, and friends – anywhere I could find power to keep things moving.  When the power came on, it was a matter of scrambling to catch up.  Even more frustrating, this storm came on the back of a hurricane that also caused power losses.  During that period, I learned that the tools, systems, and routines that build seamless day-to-day activity are so easily taken for granted.  When we are without the essentials that keep our lives running smoothly, we are suddenly faced with many “work-arounds” that eat up an enormous amount of time and energy.

Being without power is such a huge metaphor. Similar to losing your footing during the day due to a power outage or change in routine, an organization left without strong and dependable tools, systems, routines, and resources will leave your staff scrambling and forced to figure out their own “work-arounds.”

So, it begs the question: what are you doing to generate the power you need to run your organizations? Ignoring the systems you need to put into place, and assuming you can ‘make do’ for just one more day will not further your vision. In fact, it will set you back and make it harder and harder to move your organization forward.  You need to generate the power that will drive your organization into the future:

- Build and reinforce your infrastructure – invest in the people and tools to move the vision forward.

- Provide or seek resources to fuel the engine – generate the revenue that can secure your investment.

Whether it is revamping your organization internally or developing financial systems to plan for the future of generating revenue, these are the elements that will allow an organization to generate the power to get the work done.

Luckily, my generator arrived last week and is being installed as I write. I do not want to be powerless again.

Dear Friends,

It’s been a while since I have blogged. Sometimes life gets in the way of doing the things we love…for example, writing this blog. I enjoy doing it, but I sometimes find it hard to make the time to write it.  Then, I think, well – people may miss it, but nothing critical will happen if I don’t write my blog.  So, I just put it out of my mind and don’t send out a blog for another week.

I think it is probably accurate to say that you’re not upset you haven’t heard from me… it is probably a case of out of sight, out of mind.  Really, the truth is probably that you’ve forgotten all about it because I haven’t made the effort to stay in your thoughts. However,  if I’m diligent and write again next week, and the next, and so on…then I will have rejoined many of your lives and you might even start looking forward to hearing from me again.  

 As I pondered this, I started thinking that this is probably exactly how a donor might feel. They liked hearing from you, and they thought there was a nice communication between you….then, bam! The communication stops.  Not intentionally, but it became very busy – the event is being planned, the appeal has to go out, there are a lot of meetings you have to attend.  And because you had nothing urgent to discuss with your donor, they didn’t hear from you.  They, on the other hand, have no idea why you aren’t communicating and you slip quietly out of their thoughts.  They are left with no explanation of why you aren’t communicating.  And, of course, nothing really happened – you just got busy. Totally understandable, isn’t it?

 Not really!  Even when there are no pressing issues to discuss with your donor, it is still important to keep the lines of communication open.  They want to know they are on your radar screen.  They appreciate those blogs, e-mails, short notes.  It doesn’t have to be personalized (though wouldn’t that be nice).  It just needs to be consistent and ongoing.

I promise to try harder to communicate with my readers on a more regular basis.  I know it’s important.  And I urge all of you to do the same with your donors. Don’t let donors quietly slip through the cracks.  Who knows where they may go – and they may never come back!