I had a wonderful time celebrating with my sisters Dorothy and Heidi this past month.  I am amazed at how much good we manifest when we are together – so much magic and promise and creativity.    I tend to believe that these attributes are present all year and am glad that the holiday season allows more folks to express them more freely. 

Certain environments allow us to really let our spirit be fully honored and celebrated. The trick is to create as many of these ‘spaces’ and ‘places’ for ourselves!  

One such place that is doing a fabulous job of building the strength of spirit for girls is the Girls Athletic Leadership School.  Imagine walking into your jr high school and seeing words like power, flexibility, balance, focus, and motivation as the mantras on the wall.  (I am not sure I had even talked about those words until college during an anatomy class about muscles and force!)

Well for 120 middle school girls in Denver this type of school setting is a reality every day!   I got to visit the school and the energy was fabulous.  They have been through their first three months of school and by all accounts the program is having a positive impact and being received with excitement by the parents and students involved. 

At Dorothy’s 50th birthday party I read this pledge that was hand written on the wall at the Girls Athletic Leadership School as we were all sharing words that tribute my sister and her art and life.  Now re-reading it, I thought it also could serve as a New Year’s resolution.  Enjoy and feel free to post an additional pledge statement! 

photo © 2009 Tan-Anh-Khoa Pham | more info (via: Wylio)

I love working with Board members! There is something really special about a volunteer who tears up when you ask what inspires them about their work. Or a Board member who says that they have a moral duty to share their education model with others, if it is effective. And what about a Board chair who can be an ambassador, a door opener, cultivator, and ‘closer’?

All of these amazing individuals were in the room when I led a Board training session recently in Denver. This dedicated group came together to learn how they could be smarter fundraisers for this unique educational organization that champions the lives of babies, teen moms, and their families. The weather was 70 degrees, people were playing golf right outside the window and yet, for four hours on a Friday afternoon, these folks were fully engaged!

The topics we discussed ranged from “when you were asked for money, what worked?” to “what is your personal connection to the mission?”  to, my favorite, creating a leadership brand statement. To do this, we first talked about the levels at which a nonprofit markets its brand.  Remembering that the brand is the leadership, accomplishments, reputation, logo and visuals, it is important to ask ‘what are the values that are expressed in your brand and are you marketing these values?’

An organization is typically introduced to a community in phases. First: its broadest passion (safety, community, responsibility, etc.). Second: its core issues (human rights, housing, economic security, the environment, etc.)  Third: its policies or legislation (the point at which most nonprofits market their message.) These could be Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Fair Pay Act, No Child Left Behind, or TANF (Tax Assistance for Needy Families). 

Most groups are always looking for ways to reach new audiences or get people engaged.  Find folks and speak to them about the beliefs that underlie your shared attitudes and beliefs.  Talking to someone about their core values gets them to open their hearts, inquire more about charitable work that they can relate to, and eventually open their wallets.

For this exercise, each Board member tried on a new way of introducing their role and the organization to the public.  As we know, most folks always say, “I am a Board member of Florence Crittenton Services where we offer programs and schooling for teen moms.”  There is nothing wrong with this but what about this sentence really lifts up my curiosity or opens my heart?  There were 20 great responses all summarizing the work in a heartfelt and compelling way.  My favorite combination of a couple of their leadership brand statements was “I am a champion for a pioneering organization that works to end the cycle of poverty in Denver by empowering and educating teen moms and their babies who lives are being dismissed by society.”

Feel free to try this exercise out with your staff or Board and see how they ‘come out’ as fundraisers and become empowered to be spokespeople and storytellers for the cause!

For additional resources on branding and use of social media check out Beth's Kanter's Blog, Big Duck, Non-Profit Marketing Guide and  Non-Profit Marketing and Fundraising Zone. 

Two smart philanthropists have begun to map various causes related to women, the organizations working on these causes and the high priority resources and funding required by these organizations.  Their team has created a map of funding for domestic women’s causes by examining the 2007 and 2008 990’s (tax forms presented by non-profits to the IRS) of hundreds of women’s organizations and uncovered some interesting initial findings:

1.  Total philanthropic dollars to women and girls are less than 10% of all dollars.   The following organizations and movements have assets of greater than $3 billion; the America Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the Environmental Movement – all of which demonstrates the potential impact of their work.

2.  The ranking of where philanthropic dollars are going in the ‘six buckets’* of women’s issues showed that health and women’s bodies (i.e. reproductive rights, breast cancer, maternal health, etc.) and safety (i.e. domestic violence, rape, etc) combined were more than all dollars focused on education, civic and legal rights, and economic justice.

So where do we stand and what can we do?  Here are some simple and bold suggestions for donor leaders in social change.  Some simple steps;

1. Be aware of the big picture as we allocate our dollars.
2. Work through women’s funds.
3. Urge awareness and collaboration amongst our grantees.

Some bold approaches:
1.  Fund marketing and technology as a key function of the mission.
2.  Fund finance systems and strategic planning efforts.
3.  Fund talent development.
4.  Fund areas of economic security, rights, and education at a higher level.

Stay tuned for Phase II of this enlightening research around mapping funding for women’s causes as new data and findings should be available soon!

*Six buckets are defined in this study as civic and legal rights, education, economic security, family and work issues, health and women’s bodies, and safety.  

My dear friend Alysia Tromblay told me about talking with her two young boys, ages 2 ½  and 3 ½ , about kindness.  After she shared with them what it means to be kind, they started witnessing the acts of kindness around them and speaking aloud “That was so kind of …”  Now she is working with them on the concept of intention.   When she hears her 3 ½ year old say “I want this or I want that”, she asks him “So what is your intention regarding what you want?”

He and all of us ask “What does that mean Mommy”?  We learn that intention is an opportunity to bring a reflective thought process to consider actions through the lens of consequence.  For instance, asking oursleves the question, "If I want this and do this, then what happens?"

Imagine a world where young people are taught to recognize compassion, kindness, and to state their intentions?  Imagine a first grade class where kids talk about ‘compassion’ and ‘kindness’ and when they see this in one another versus ‘wanting’ each others’ crayons or toys?  Imagine a society where people state aloud their intentions and honor the practice of focusing on the steps of their plan to manifest such beauty and change?

I had always thought of intention as the place where you put your focus to manifest something.  While playing basketball, if I wanted to make a basket it may or may not go in.  If I had the intention, I knew the steps in place to deliver the goal, and I would practice those steps over and over to increase the success percentage of my shots.  As Donna Lopiano often said when we were creating new programs at the Women’s Sports Foundation; “Excellence is sequential attention to detail.”  Now we hear from Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers that 10,000 hours or ten years is the time it takes to master a skill. 

When I talk with people about their careers and where they want to go in life, I ask them what their ‘intention’ is with a company or organization.  Do they ‘intend’ to commit to growing as a professional and offering all of their talents there or do they ‘want’ a promotion?  Do they have ‘intentions’ to deliver a service or product that exemplifies the highest standards or do they ‘want’ to make more money?  In my own professional experience, during a performance review I often stated my intentions to grow a new area of the organization and proposed that if these intentions came to fruition, I would receive an increase in pay.  Needless to say, I almost always got the raise.

I enjoy understanding words so I looked up the definition of intend:  to have a design or purpose in mind.  What is your purpose or design in life?  I think about Alysia’s sons learning at such a young age to pause and think this through.  What a model for us all!