If you’ve been reading this newsletter long enough or have listened to our Fundraising HayDay podcast, you know that Amanda is the nice one, right?
So let me sling some slang to get us started. I wanna hold your hand while I say this with my whole chest and my [admittedly big] back. While the world burns—literally and figuratively—too many are sitting on the sidelines complaining instead of acting. And I am 100% done with that behavior. Not the people, but their behavior.
Big changes are coming to federal grantmaking that sound absurd and won’t streamline anything. Organizations are being called to speak up. Some try and succeed, while others mess up and try, try, again.
But what chaps me the absolute worst are people who’d rather criticize long and hard from the sidelines than take one small step forward either by themselves, or as part of an informal group, or a larger organization.
Maybe you’ve heard these before. Perhaps you’ve said them before.
“Things are really bad, but I’m keeping my head down for the next 3-4 years, and it should be better.”
“Why bother. It’s just one little thing, and they [whoever ‘they’ are] are doing enough anyway.”
“I’m just too busy to do anything. [Reader, define ‘thing’ as whatever big, small, minuscule, easy, difficult, action, or commitment is on the table.]
Stop. Just stop. If you think you can put your head down and wait this out it’s because it’s not affecting you yet. But there are plenty of other people struggling and even dying while you are doing your ostrich thing.
On a more micro nonprofit sustainability level, things are also not looking great for a lot of folks and the communities they serve. I get it. Really, I do. But I am not here to tell you everything is going to be fine if you try one different approach.
For example, after a recent co-presentation, someone approached me with a “situation” that is sadly more and more common. They had lost a significant chunk of federal funding and had then tried, once, to get invited to a strategic planning meeting and were turned down. Because of that one rejection, they were ready to pivot all fundraising efforts to chasing national grants versus deepening local individual donations and increasing board engagement. One try. One no. Done. And now a monocrop of a revenue stream that a million others are now trying. What could go wrong?
What kind of magical world are you living in where you get everything you want on the first ask? Do cartoon bluebirds flutter through your window and help you get dressed every morning? I’m curious, and a little envious, honestly, if that is true. But it’s not.
Rejection sucks. As a young adult fiction writer aiming to be published by one of the “Big 5” publishers, I’ve received 52 rejections from literary agents—that’s still below average for published writers. Some very well-published authors have shared that they were rejected over 100 times, 150 times, and more before they found literary representation.
You want lasting change? It takes more than one try. It takes group effort. It takes getting uncomfortable, hearing “no,” and asking again. And again.
If you’re too busy to knock on a door, make a connection, post your thoughts, or help connect people with resources, that’s your call to make. But don’t come around complaining that everything’s being done wrong while you do nothing.
The reason people can maintain that attitude right now probably has to do with the color of their skin, their paycheck, or their zip code—because it’s sure not for any other reason.
Not everyone is built to stand up and shout. As an introvert myself, I completely understand. But there are so many ways to contribute: group actions, petitions, research, committee and board service, writing articles, posting resource guides and links. The options are endless. Please don’t use personality traits as an excuse.
Find what feels right for you and do it. Find things that make you uncomfortable and do those too. Get told no, then no again, then finally yes. That’s how change happens. There is power in coming together. There is power in making one step, and then another, and then another.
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