GOOD NEWS: Mastery and Fun
Good News: An enewsletter for donors and nonprofits
on strategic planning, governance, fundraising, and executive leadership.
Mastery and Fun
Recently my wife and I sold our 20 year family home in Ipswich and moved to an apartment building in Boston. Change abounds in an almost entirely positive way. During our first full week back in the city, while establishing new routines and sampling nearby events, two lessons emerged for my donor and nonprofit clients.
Amor Towles on Mastering the Elements of Craft
Listening to bestselling American author Amor Towles talk about his newly published collection of short stories Table for Two at the Emerson Colonial Theater, I noted that he returned to the phrase "mastering the elements of craft" when describing his writing process and journey. It occurred to me that we're all on the road to mastering elements of craft as they relate to our own professional endeavors.
For funders, it is understanding how best to communicate their funding priorities and process. It is about building relationships with grantees and other funders who become important partners in their work over time. And the best funders establish internal and external routines that position them to do all of this over and over. Like writing a novel or short story, it is an iterative process requiring reflection and an adaptive mindset.
For nonprofits, mastering elements of program, governance, and fundraising directly impacts those they are serving and the funders who want to make a difference in the world. Exemplary nonprofits work hard to hone programming so that it is exceptionally reliable and effective. They routinely care for their board and committee members so that all are highly functioning and self-fulfilled. Books have been written about mastering the craft of fundraising but suffice it to write that the best fundraisers know how to connect with all people to tell the story of their organizations in a compelling way that encourages the listener to become a part of it. So much to learn through experience that requires putting ourselves out there with humility and courage.
Does your organization commit to mastering all of the elements of its craft? What are you doing to ensure that getting by is not enough? How do you build a culture that seeks mastery from all that connect to your organization, including, and perhaps especially, board members and even donors?
Mamma Mia!, Here We Go Again
A few nights after listening to Towles reflect on mastering the elements of his craft, I found myself at the Citizens Opera House for a rousing performance of Mamma Mia!, again. Like ABBA's music or not, it is hard to deny their success, in part evidenced by packed house after packed house full of patrons dancing in their seats for two and a half hours.
What's the takeaway for donors and nonprofits? FUN matters! Although the work can be hard and consequences for succeeding or not can be deadly serious, the most lasting and sustainable organizations have fun in their board rooms, staff meetings, and even program delivery. Not a junk food, artificial high, forced kind of fun ("mandatory ice cream party for the staff on Friday at 4pm") but the deep, genuine sense of happiness that comes from knowing they are doing exactly what they are meant to do and with whom they are meant to do it.
Do your people look forward to and enjoy their program work, staff and board meetings, and even fundraising? If not, think about how to establish a culture full of joy. Seek mastery. Understand that you may need to change the people to change the culture. Be sure to avoid the pitfall of projecting that "The beatings will continue until morale improves."
Stuff Steve Is Watching, Listening To, and Reading
Hopeful Skepticism (59 minute watch)
“There is good in us and it is good for us. But why is it so hard for so many of us to tap into the goodness in other people? The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who haven't got it. Cynics do less well on cognitive tests than non cynics and they are worse at spotting liars. Skepticism is the desire for information and data before drawing any conclusions. Skeptics are able to adapt and build relationships. Hopeful skepticism is the healthiest place to be. I think of cynicism as social depression." Jamil Zaki, Ph.D. and Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D., Family Action Network
Watch Here
Mamma Mia!, Here We Go Again (3 minute listen)
"My wife asked me to go see Mama Mia! with her. I went, reluctantly. I was the only man in a theatre full of women until this big biker type dude (all tatted up) came in with his woman who was a wisp of a thing. He was looking at the sea of estrogen and spotted me. We both did a forced quarter smile and a nod at each other knowing that men do crazy things for the women we love. When the song Mamma Mia was playing, the whole audience was standing and singing including me and the biker dude. While walking out after, the biker dude and I both said we enjoyed the play and the music." YouTube Comments Section re: Abba's Mamma Mia
Listen Here
Table for Two (3 hour read)
“When I finished assembling the collection, it occurred to me that in most of the pieces, a critical moment involved a pair of family members or strangers facing each other across a kitchen table to confront some new reality in their lives. I wasn’t conscious of this while writing the stories, but it must have sprung from a conviction in my subconscious that our lives can often change materially due to a single conversation at a table for two." Amor Towles on Table for Two
Read Here
To the Good has Moved!
Please note that To the Good's new mailing address is:
#1002
580 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02111
Steve Filosa
978 578 1904
www.tothegood.net
