Ep. 87: Common Roadblocks to Confidently Investing In Your Nonprofit’s Growth
EPISODE 87
Common Roadblocks to Confidently Investing In Your Nonprofit’s Growth
About the Episode:
As a part of the launch for the next round of The Purpose & Profit™ Coaching Program, I’ve done a lot of free chats with people who want to join. Since the calls, I’ve formulated a list of common issues that nonprofits are facing when it comes to investing in their organization’s growth. The funny thing? Whether their organization raises $1 million+ or $20K, I hear the same issues when it comes to getting the okay from leadership to essentially spend money to make money. There are the same limiting beliefs, the same fears, and the same unmet needs for capacity building. Today I want to talk about having the faith to take a leap, because on the other side could be your biggest win.
Topics:
Objection and challenge throughlines that Christina has noticed on clarity calls with clients
Why an organization who makes $20K can face the same challenges as the one who makes $1.2 million
Actions steps to take if no one knows what you do or if your market is saturated
Believing that all of the big wins in your life will be on the other side of taking a leap
Getting your board on board to invest in time, support, guidance, capacity building
The importance of coming up with a game plan for your launch and your donor’s journey
Doubling down after receiving rejection from your board or leadership when it comes to investing in support
Think you’ve reached out to “everyone” in your network? Out of ideas to get noticed and get funded? Generate leads for your nonprofit or social impact business: https://www.splendidcourses.com/prospect
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“Pick your thoughts and beliefs intentionally, with purpose.”
“It’s normal that our brain defaults to a negative, but it’s a choice of whether or not you want to redirect it.”
“You have to think about what you’re thinking about internally as well as what you’re choosing to externally say to people about your organization.”
“All of the big wins of my life have been on the other side of taking a leap.”
“The desire to have a really rockin’ monthly giving program is significant and it's not a unicorn or something that's crazy or impossible, but it does require runway.”
Episode Resources:
FREE Resources from Splendid Consulting:
How to Work with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
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Christina Edwards 00:35
Well, hi changemakers. First off, I just want to say hello and welcome. And it's been such an amazing week for a couple of reasons. So I'm gonna start with a little celebration, which if you listen to the last few episodes, I've been talking about my profit and impact flywheel method. And one step of the method is celebration. So I want to celebrate. So I just got through an a really epic, really amazing launch for my group coaching program of the same name as this podcast, the purpose and profit club. And one of the things that I did in the launch was open up my calendar in a way that I really never have before. So I opened up my calendar to book 20 minute quick calls with me if anyone was on the fence about joining or had more questions, or just maybe was struggling with some resistance from leadership. So it was really a fun way. It was like boom, boom, boom, boom, somebody's people on my calendar, and a really fun way to meet so many of you in a way that I hadn't at all before. So some of you have come to my webinars, I'll see, you know, I'll recognize your name in the chat. Some of you are in maybe my self study courses, but a lot of you was the first time we met was the first time we met on Zoom. And it was so fun. So I first want to just acknowledge and say thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you. For many of you said, I've been listening to the podcast, I'm like, Oh, my gosh, you have Thank you. So thank you for listening to the podcast. Now. Here's my ask, here's my ask for you. Can I please motivate you to leave me a review. So if you've been listening to the podcast, and you've enjoyed it, I would love it if you would leave me a five star review and a review about why you love it in the in the comments you can review on Apple, you can review on Spotify and all the places where ever you listen. So special, special shout out to Shelby and viola. And I'm going to redo that part. Special shout out to my friends. Let's see that I love. Okay, so I want to shout out some of you that I met this past week. We have a Nita and Shelby and viola and Erin and Simon and Arlene and Jonathan and Mary was so nice to meet. So, so many and Carolyn, and oh my gosh, I'm like looking at my list. So So nice to meet so many of you. And it was very, very fun to welcome you into the club. If you're still like, Wait, did I miss it? Is it too late? No, it is not too late, you still can join the club. So we have closed enrollment. But we are opening back up very, very soon, you're going to want to get in very, very soon. Because what we're doing is going to fast track your success, it's going to fast track your impact, it's going to fast track your funding. So don't wait. And if you're like wait, I missed your I missed your 20 Minute quick meeting, I want that just send me a message reach out to me, you can always find me over at splendid consulting on Instagram. And we can find a time that works for you. The best way to join the club so that your first like in line and when we open doors, which will be very soon is to go to splendid courses.com forward slash waitlist and you'll get notification when we open back up which again will be like today. I know quite a few of you had to get approval from leadership. And that's actually the first thing that I wanted to talk about today, which is I wrote down in my notes. Many of the conversations like some of the through lines of what I heard, and I just want to take you through what I heard from so many. I met with founders I met with executive directors, marketers major gifts, fundraisers, development. I mean, I met with so many of you across the country and beyond. Here's what I heard. We're struggling to move forward. I'm fighting for pennies financially. Money is a challenge. We're in a small town. It's been a grind. These are challenging times. We're in a saturated nonprofit city. We're treading water. Our last online campaign tanked. I feel really uncomfortable asking for more I just wanted like, check in check in with what resonated with you where you're like, oh, yeah, that one feels true. Or if you're like, how you feel just having me read through that list, because reading through that list, I feel like a thickness, I feel a heaviness in my throat, I feel a thickness, like it does feel very heavy to read that. And here's the thing that I want to just like break open your mind a little bit, which is the organization that said Money is a challenge. It's been a grind. We're really struggling. We're on pennies financially, like those organizations that said that You ready, like having this gonna be a pop quiz, I have a number in your head of what you think their annual revenue was? Or is, how much are they fundraising each year? Because when somebody says that to me, I have a number in my head that I go to, right. And the more they kind of double down and talk about how low funding is my number and my head goes down and down. Right. And I will ask them, I will ask you on these calls. Where are you at? What did you do last year? And here's the part that will just break your mind. right open? Is that the organizations that told me this? I would hear? We did 160,000. Last year? We did 540,000. Last year, we did 1.2 million last year? We did 1.7 million last year? We did 322,000. Last year, how could it be? We did 20,000 last year? How could it be that an organization that says we did 20,000 last year is saying the exact same thing as an organization that did 1.2 million last year? How could that be? You know, how can it be like answer that for yourself? Because I have some thoughts about it. And one of the thoughts is you sort of take your your brain, you take your belief system with you. So if you believe that money is a challenge, these are challenging times, we're in a small town or in a saturated city, whatever those are, even as you scale and grow, those beliefs are holding onto you like like a cape, but not a superhero cake like a heavy cloak. Okay, so you're looking for, it's a little bit like confirmation bias, you're looking for that to be true. So you will find all of the evidence, your brain will go to work finding that true. So you will look for all of the evidence to support your belief that it's really hard right now, it's really a challenge, in spite of the fact that you have a $1.2 billion organization. Okay, you might be saying, Christina, that's not me, we're at like, you know, we're scraping by it $175,000 A year. Same thing, same thing, if you're scraping by air quotes at that a year, and you're telling yourself how challenging it is. Or money's a challenge for people right now. Right? We're fighting for pennies. What did somebody say? That we're in competition, right? How that feels like such a struggle. And you will make sure that your brain proves that true because you're just repeating it in your head. So that is the first thing that I just want to highlight to you today is pick your beliefs, pick your thoughts intentionally with purpose. Don't Don't punish yourself, or don't criticize yourself for thinking some of those thoughts, because listen, they're on memes and headlines and repeated to us all day, every day, right? I mean, as we're getting ready for, you know, presidential election later this year. That's kind of how how it works, right, is we've got, we've got our candidates talking about how their quotes bad it is, right? That's kind of the headline, and they're gonna make it better, right? And so it's normal that our brain defaults to the negative, but it is a choice whether or not you want to choose to redirect it. So if your organization is at $175,000, this year, how is it true that you're also moving forward? How is it true? There are some people that support your organization who are not struggling financially? How is it true that there are if you said that your nonprofit is in a saturated city? How is it also true that it's not that it is a saturated city, but your organization stands out? Your organization does different your organization's messaging, storytelling, marketing, fundraising, your organization stands out, you know, stop sound like the rest. You're the organization to support? You know, I'm in Atlanta, we have a lot of organizations that seek to support people who are homeless, right? So if there's one or two, there's many, right? That doesn't mean that that that it's not valuable. That doesn't mean that that the 17th organization that does it is like, Well, nevermind, there's nothing for us here. No, that's an opportunity and an invitation to say how are we going to stand out and underscore and underline and step into the spotlight and say what we do differently? And then on the flip side, if you're an organization where you're like, no one really knows what What we do, maybe we serve a small population, maybe you are in some sort of like health care, right? And you I'm thinking about like rare diseases because it was Rare Disease Day recently. And it was actually really enlightening. And, and and what is the word? I was glad to see so many people share that there was an image for Rare Disease Day. And it was enlightening in the way that I knew the people around me who have experienced a very rare form of cancer sharing it, I saw people who have experienced all sorts of different diagnosis and disease here. And it was like, Wow, there's so many out there, like what a collective like, like, coming together to lift this up. Okay. So if that's you, and you're actually like, we don't serve a saturated population, we actually serve like an under what's the word like under saturated population? So therefore, people don't know about us. Okay, true. And where's this? What's the benefit to that, like, make your brain find five benefits to that, because I'll tell you, the organization that is the 17th organization in a community that serves the homeless population would tell you at least one which is, wow, you're the only one you're the person to call, you're the person to call you're the expert already. Think of for others. So you really want to think about how you're thinking internally and how what you're choosing to externally say to people, like in conversation right. If you're on my email list, you heard me, maybe you read me using the concept of taking the leap. And that all of the investments I've made in my life, all of the big, big wins in my life have been on the other side of taking a leap. Every single one, and I listed a bunch, but it's like think about it, like do a mental list of the leaps you've taken in your own life. And, or rather do a list of the successes, you've had the wins, you've had the milestones, even so like milestones, I think of like getting married, having children buying my first house, maybe buying your first car going on a trip overseas for the first time learning the new language. All of those pieces taking an art class for the first time, right, just anything that like was an expansive experience that you're glad that you did. Did any of those feel like right uncomfortable? And? And like, oh, yeah, this is for me, because I know, none of those that I just listed did none of them. Every time I speak Spanish, every single time I utter a word out loud to somebody who is fluent in Spanish. I feel like it's the first time I feel very insecure, even though I can speak it. I feel very much like, yeah, this, this feels like two left feet, but I'm going to try it anyway. It's work worth doing. I want to. And on the other side of trying to get out of these, the struggle of moving forward, the struggle of getting your organization, your cause visible, the struggle of feeling like your revenue is just treading water, right is a leap. And so this weird in between that I heard from a lot of a lot of you this past week was basically we're struggling. And that means that we can't change. Because we're struggling, we can't make a change. We can't invest in something, because we can't, right. So it's like, you're stuck in the car, your car's on and it's stuck in park and you're not going in reverse out of the driveway because you're like, I don't know, who could say, right, and it's like this, this there's this, this frozenness to it. It's a freeze, right? It's also a fear around if we take the leap if we back out of the driveway if we make this investment. What if it doesn't pay off? Right? What if it doesn't pay off? And to that, I would say everything is a leap. It's a leap staying in the driveway. Think about it staying in the driveway is is is in itself a risk because what you're saying to me is we are Doing nothing different this year, we're going to replicate our entire strategy as it was last year that our boards very comfortable and cozy with. And we are going to pray and hope for different results. Well, maybe we'll add in a few other like little last minute rushed touches, but other than that, we're just going to pay for different results. And I think the place where a lot of people trick themselves is they say no, no, no, no, no, I'm not doing the exact same thing I did last year? Of course not. Of course, I'm, you know, getting out of the driveway. Of course, I'm trying something different. But what that version is, is this like little, it's like these little tiny destinations, instead of really putting in your GPS, the full plan going all in investing not only time investing, capacity building, investing in support and investing in guidance, investing in a coach, getting your board on board to actually implement versus like, Well, I went to the store today I drove, you know, point three miles, it took time I waited in line, it took a lot of tech, right? That's not what I'm talking about. And I think that's actually a little bit of a sneaky trick where you're like, Okay, well, we're not doing the exact same thing we did last year, we're doing something different. But like, is it? Is it really different? Because when I, when I go to you when I asked you what you're doing, it's either so it's different enough, but you peter out very quickly. Okay. The amount of conversations I've had recently about the the desire to have a like really rockin monthly giving program is significant. Many of you are after that. And it's not a unicorn, it's not something that's like crazy or impossible. Or only the big guys can have it or anything like that. It's totally possible for any organization listening. But it does require runway, it does, you've got to take some time to prep for it. It's not I put a monthly, I put monthly giving on my webpage, and I expected everyone to come and they didn't. And now I have four people. And that's it. And I'm lumping their communications in with the rest, like you've got to come up with a game plan of what is the launch look like? What is the journey for the monthly to or look like? Who is my ideal monthly donor? Right? What how are they feeling seen heard? What is that reciprocity piece? Okay? Maybe we'll end with this, because we're talking about leaps, and we're talking about choosing your thoughts on purpose, we're talking about how you can unintentionally or just maybe just have running in the background, lots of negative beliefs. And it's not helpful and it's being regurgitated by our sector. And so it just everything just sounds true. And it sounds like the real deal. So, so let's, let's end with this. A lot of times when clients come to me, they want to take a leap, they are so ready for something like like a like a injection right of like something new, something different like that this works like they're so ready to have an impact this year. And they might talk to their board about working together, they might talk to leadership about joining the club. And you know that feeling, you know that feeling when you get you have a new outfit. When you change your hair color. Are you going to new hair cut, and you want everybody to tell you look good. And maybe they don't. Not everybody is going to tell you they look good. Not everybody is going to tell you they like your haircut. Not everybody is going to tell you Yes. This is the decision you should make because you know what's the best for you. Now I understand some of you have to get leadership on board but I hope you understand the essence of what I'm saying. When leadership says to you or when your board says to you Oh, don't spend that. Can't do that. And you say, All right, I asked, I tried and you walk away, right? I want you to double down, I want you to like sink in the way you wouldn't a donor meeting, when a donor says we can't do that. No. Or when a donor meeting says that's a lot. Yes, it is a lot. And the impact we have is a lot. And the results I'll create board is a lot is a lot. It's work worth doing. It's an investment worth having. I believe in myself, I believe in the impact of our organization. I'm all in. And like really solidifying your own your own belief in whatever strategy you want to implement, whether it's a new strategy, whether it's monthly giving, whether it's a new, a new tactic, to to get out there and acquire new donors, whether it's an event you want to put on whether it's an investment, you want to make an a coach, when you say to somebody, Hey, what do you think, and they don't immediately mirror back, you should do it. Like you're like a really supportive best friend would love our best friends. But when they don't mirror that back to you, you have to be the one that says I'm doing this, here's the results I'm going to create, it's gonna feel it's gonna feel expansive, it's gonna feel a little nervous, a little wobbly, and we go, and let's go. I hope you get that nuance. Like, I hope that that kind of sinks in with you. Because that's how it's been. For me. That's how it's been for my clients is. I don't think you ever make a huge leap. And you experience a huge influx of revenue growth, a huge influx of impact. And have it feel cozy, comfortable and have a dozen board members best friends, co workers tell you, of course, you're making the right decision? Of course you are. I think that that's why I don't ask a lot of people for opinions. I don't definitely don't in my business, I make my decisions. Right. I do rely sometimes on a trusted colleague, I sometimes will go to my coach, but even my coach is going to help me figure out what I what I think versus me following the leader and what they think. Let that noodle around. For you. I feel like it was kind of a lot of inner work this episode. And just maybe decide like, what's one one belief I want to shed? And what's one belief I want to take instead, it could be that these are challenging times, that's going to be a big one that's going to be echoed through the news again and again and again this year. And also like in every year, despite unemployment going down, somehow there's a way to say wow, it says challenging times, right? Despite data you can rework data as best as you can to get people to click the article. So what's it what's a belief you want to believe instead? Instead of these are challenging times? How about I'm up for the challenge? How about that? I am, I'm up for the challenge. Challenges are fun. Right? Challenges are fun. And this isn't a challenging time for everybody. Not everybody is struggling. There are lots of wealthy people who want to help us there are a lot of volunteers who want to help us there are a lot of people who have a mid level capacity who wants to help us lots of people who can help us without giving us money, hello influencers. So get on the waitlist, go to splendid courses.com forward slash waitlist kid to get on that waitlist. And I want to see you inside the club. I want to see you I want to help you take the leap. See next time