Congressional Pet Peeve

Should US Olympic uniforms be made overseas? Did Roger Clemens take steroids? Did the New Orleans Saints pay players to injure the competition?

All those questions have one thing in common: Congressional time was spent on them.

The answers to the questions (no, probably, and yes, respectively) are mostly irrelevant for the pet peeve I'm about to cite. My number one pet peeve regarding Congress is when it spends time debating/investigating/etc things that are much too minute for its scope.

We've got 8% unemployment, kids who can't read, an enormous national debt, a social security system that isn't sustainable, homeless veterans and diseases that need curing to name a few. And with all that going on Congress wants to talk about Olympic uniforms?

If we were all clothed, fed, sheltered, educated, healthy and perfectly safe, then maybe these petty issues would be worthy of Congress (or maybe we would demote Congressional service to a part-time gig and save ourselves some salaries but alas I digress). However, not the case.

So please Congress, if you happen to stumble upon this little Blogger blog, reassess what the hell you are debating. Fix the issues that matter and then deal with our various sporting events.

(And because I'm feeling quite opinionated this evening, in regard to the Olympic uniforms, sure, they should have been made in the USA. However they were made by a private company, Ralph Lauren, in partnership with a privately-funded nonprofit, the United States Olympic Committee and thus the manufacturing was the prerogative of that partnership. The idea of a bill that would require the uniforms to be made in the USA, while maybe constitutional [or maybe not, I honestly don't know], is ridiculous. What about good old fashioned free enterprise?)

(Perhaps Congress and I are not so different in that we have strong opinions. At least I'm kept in check by having no more prominent a soapbox than a personal blog. Which is not funded by tax dollars and is not responsible for the well-being of 311 million people.)

Uncharitable

On my recent biz trip I brought along and devoured Uncharitable by Dan Pallotta. Holy smokes it was good.

The whole premise of the book is that there are these unwritten rules about how charities are supposed to be run but these rules hold charities back and render them ineffective, or at the very least, unable to live up to their full potential.

Pallotta goes into many many rules but let me touch on the ones that resonated most with me.

• Charities can't take risks primarily because if they fail then money that was supposed to go to a cause has been "wasted." Of course, with big risk comes big reward, even if it takes a few tries. How many people are going unserved because charities can't take a risk with funding sources, program delivery and more?
• Employees of charities should be working out of the kindness of their hearts and willing to sacrifice some (or lots) of pay. Demanding a compensation package that accurately reflects their skills and worth is supposedly greedy and taking from the cause. However, it is somehow moral to get rich while potentially harming people (tobacco anyone?) but immoral to get rich helping people. Imagine if charities could match the private sector in salaries. Maybe Warren Buffet or Bill Gates would have made their fortunes curing diseases.
• Charities can't advertise. Again because it is "taking" money from the cause. Buying a Superbowl ad, or even local paper ad, is seen as frivolous spending despite the awareness it creates. However we all know from our personal consumer experiences that the more awareness we have of something, the more attractive it is. For example, you didn't want an iPod until you were aware of it.
• The most important figure for determining a charity's effectiveness is the percent that "goes to the cause" versus the percent that is overhead. While I doubt anyone would salute ineffective or mismanage charities, this figure is virtually meaningless since 1) there are no guidelines as to what "going to the cause" actually means. For instance, the electric bill at a community clinic is considered overhead by most but is certainly required to have the lights, computers, screening equipment, etc on. And 2) it says nothing about effectiveness. A soup kitchen that spends 90% on "the cause" but serves watered down soup is not more effective than a kitchen that spends 80% on "the cause" but is serving hearty vegetable soup.
• Charities are expected to act like a business but without any of the same allowances. Since a business can rake risks, pay employees almost whatever it likes, advertise, sell stock, spend on infrastructure how it see fits etc, it has a nearly endless set of allowances not afforded to charities. This is a pretty all encompassing point.

It could be easy to read this book and think "well, charity is doomed." But of course, it's not. Charity and the charitable sector have been around for centuries and aren't going anywhere. However if we want to see our charities grow stronger, do more good and enhance our communities even more, we need to empower them.

Here's my attempt at providing a few guidelines any one of us can do to make it happen.

• Give unrestricted gifts. When you make your donation, don't specify how it has to be spent. Trust the org to use it wisely (the vast majority do) and if they need staplers or bathroom cleaner or staff health insurance, just let them spend it that way. It all helps the cause in the end.
• Ask about the change made and not the percent "going to the cause." Volunteers or staff will be thrilled to tell you how many kids learned to read, the amount saved by keeping someone out of jail and the number of kitties with new homes. You'll be able to better determine how much good the org is doing and probably feel really satisfied with your donation or volunteer service. It's a two-for.
• Advocate for better salaries. If you read about a nonprofit exec "getting paid too much," look into it before declaring the person devil spawn. Have they increased fundraising dramatically? Enhanced services? Improved effectiveness? And if you have the chance to serve on the board, support staff salary increases or bonuses to help retain the most effective staff members.

Happy do gooding!

Bras & Birthdays

A coworker of mine spent this past weekend in Vegas as the kick off to her 40th birthday year. That's right, year. When I asked how she was going to continue the celebration, she told me with a whole year of fundraisers. Be still my heart for yes, this woman truly is all you aspire to be.

As a kid I wasn't allowed to start talking about my birthday until the first of April (however I feel strongly that if Mom knew I was planning a whole year of charitable celebrations, I could have started talking about it April 26 of the year before).

Old habits die hard and it wasn't until early April that I really started thinking about my birthday, though admittedly I came to no conclusions for the celebration.

But today when my very charitable coworker shared her plan and then mere hours later led a webinar for the BCRC on launching personal fundraising pages, I had my answer. Birthday fundraiser part two: the shamelessly committed and enthusiastic edition! (See birthday fundraiser part one, the 2011 starter edition.)

This year's birthday fundraiser is called Bras & Birthdays in honor of BCRC's Art Bra Austin, for which I am the communications chair, and of course, for my 27th birthday. And because let's be honest, the name got your attention.

Because the need is so important, I have set the lofty goal of a LOT. I would love to see my fundraising go, in the words of Buzz Lightyear, "to infinity and beyond."

As of right now, at 9:25 p.m. I'm sitting pretty at $80 in donations. Pretty damn good for only having the page live for 7 hours.

Thanks in advance for considering my alliteration of a fundraiser and I promise to keep y'all updated on the progress and what that progress means to breast cancer patients in Central Texas.

Mashable

We're in Mashable!

See: http://mashable.com/2012/04/03/online-giving-non-profit-infographic/ 

For those of you not familiar, Mashable is like the NY Times of the digital world. Any one who geeks out to tech, especially of the online variety, pines away for Mashable. Thus this story, more than made my day today.

23 Hours in Phoenix

It's a Friday night and Lexi and I are curled up for an episode (or two) of Friday Night Lights. That's because after 23 hours in Phoenix, I'm a sleepy lady.

Instagram pic from front of AZ hotel

Since I'm sleepy, I'll give you the very brief version. Yesterday afternoon I flew to Phoenix to join up with the McPherson Co-op, a group of fundraisers and marketers for PBS stations across the country. I enjoyed dinner with the group, where I ate delicious chicken and learned TONS about the world of public media. As the intersection of charitable work and broadcast journalism, I found it to be super interesting.

Then this morning I spoke to the group about social media and shared a few ideas for how they could use it back at their stations. Shane, from KLRU (Austin's PBS station) spoke with me on the topic and is definitely leading the charge in terms of social PBS stations.

And after speaking but before reaching the 24 hour mark in the wild wild west, I was back on a plane and headed to Austin.

Let's honor Shane and his team here with a teaser video for a show on our local PBS station that I do believe I will have to start watching.

Thankful VI

I'm thankful for Goodwill.

Yesterday I made a quick trip down to the local Goodwill donation center to drop off bags of clothes that no longer fit, never fit in the first place and really shouldn't have been bought, etc. After taking my donation and giving me my tax receipt, the man working said "Thank you for your donation. It's helping put people to work."

It was one of the warmest, fuzziest, directly mission-related things I've heard in a while. It reminded me that not only did I get my closet cleaned out, I helped people who want to be self-sufficient be a little more self-sufficient. Thanks Goodwill Industries of Central Texas for that happy moment :)

(PS A day late I know but really, what's one day right?)

Movember is here!

Movember is here!

Movember is when moustaches invade November in the name of awareness for and fundraising to fight prostate cancer. There's some disagreement about when and where Movember began, but in a nutshell it began 7-11 years ago in Australia (either Adelaide or Melbourne, we aren't sure). I first got wind of it while studying in Sydney and interning for the Cancer Council Australia. Last year US participants raised $7.5 million to fight prostate cancer through orgs like LIVESTRONG and the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Creepy Ross 'stache from earlier this year.
Get ready for more of the same...and then some

As you know, Ross is a lover of moustaches and firefighters worldwide are among the best growers of moustaches. Add into it our strong opposition to cancer and it's only natural that Ross bring Movember to the guys at GFD.

Led by their fearless moustache growing Movember captain Ross, the GFD Mo-Bros are 19 strong for their inaugural year.

And it's a very serious effort, complete with email heckling, posters, business cards and maybe a moustache growth flip book at the end.


If you would like to support Ross and the GFD Mo-Bros, you can donate to him online right here.

Check his "Mo-Space" and my blog throughout Movember for updated pics of the 'stache. It's bound to be epic.

Video Blitz

I'm not a big YouTube person but every once in a while I see a video that just knocks my socks off. And today, I'm gonna share some with you.

First, Girl Inc's Dear World. This has been my fav girl power video for several years now. Seriously, watch the video. It's phenomenal. (Although I am a little disappointed that they've disabled embedding. I think that's silly.)

Next The Girl Effect which I just discovered this week and I think is now tied as my fav girl power video. It's different than Girl Inc, dealing with girls in more extreme circumstances. It gives me chills.



Right before heading off to Canada I went to the Lights Camera Help Nonprofit Film Fest here in Austin. I was only able to attend one day but I saw this great little PSA from the Austin Ronald McDonald House Charities. I'm continually impressed with this organization's use of technology and new media.



I can't forget the Breast Cancer Resource Centers and their great "How We Serve" video that was shown at the Graphic V fundraiser back in April. It's a beauty!



And finally, because you know I have to include an ABCNews video (duh), this one on The Hunger at Home. Can you believe how many hungry kids we have in this country full of abundance? I've been excited about Junior League because I love all chick orgs and because I dig community service. But having been reminded how much hunger is a problem, even here in the US, I'm even more excited about my placement with the FIT (Food In Tummies) program.



Ah yes, and all those videos are why I love my job. Feel inspired yet? I sure do.

#DGGames

The tiara brings out the
pink in my face.

Tonight was YNPN Austin's annual Do Gooder Games (or #DGGames for you tweeps). I'm not really in an article-style blog mood but let me hit the highlights for you.

• Convio had a team! The Queenvios. We wore tiaras and got hella points in the costume category.
• I rocked a couple questions during the trivia section, quite proud I must say. And just in case you wanted to know, the first YNPN chapter was in San Fran and there are 7000+ open board positions in Central Texas. I think my teammates were impressed (or their jaws hit the table for other unrelated reasons).
• We made the finals! Woohoo!
• The last round was 60 seconds about why your organization should win the $500 for charity prize. I gave it my best shot but let's be honest, teaching girls about self-esteem, curing cancer and literacy are all had me beat. Which is why Convio works so hard to help them raise lots of money. But alas, their missions are just sexier.
• We won second place!
• Young Professionals for the Cure which is a fundraising/volunteer group for the Komen Foundation in Austin was the big winner. Way to go Komen! Woohoo!
• I saw lots of my YNPN and nonprofit friends. It was fun. One took this amazing picture you see of me here.

PS Remember that 7000+ board positions thing I mentioned? Crazy right? If you live in Austin and want to help shrink that number by serving on a board, you should attend Greenlights' Board Summit next month.

It's my birthday and I'm kinda a big deal

And no, I'm not really that cocky. I only say that because I wrote this little blog today about donating my birthday (the big 2-6 y'all) to the Breast Cancer Resource Center via Causes, a Facebook app for micro-giving and Causes actually picked it up and posted it on their website. And Causes is kinda a big deal so by proxy, I am also kinda a big deal. Sweet.

By the way, if you are wondering, my Birthday Wish for the BCRC has raised $336 so far. Woohoo! Thanks y'all!

PS I've been snacking at my desk while surfing the Internets and consequently, feeding Lexi little bites. She's become so spoiled that if I go too long between bites for her, she's started pawing at me as a reminder that she's here. As if the furry face and slobbery mouth weren't reminder enough.

We Fight Back

I stumbled upon this via Twitter today and thought I'd share with you. Very good video for a very good cause.

Giving Back

I actually just wrote and scrapped a whole blog post because as writing so often does, it inspired me to write another one. One I hope you'll give me feedback on.

I'm reading Raising More Money a la my boss, Bonnie. Great read. Highly reccommend.

One of the first chapters discusses how people tend to give to the same organizations year in and year out. (Interesting tid-bit, 75% of American households have at least one donor living in them.) This got me thinking, yup, I'm consistent.

I've been a girl member, camp counselor, volunteer, donor and finally, staff with Girl Scouts.

Every time a closet is cleaned out, the goods go to Goodwill.

I'm working on my fourth fundraising event with the American Cancer Society.

Ah but that opened a new door. I'm a donor/volunteer with the ACS. (Fabulous organization.) But I've also been at least a little active with a lot of other cancer organizations: MD Anderson Cancer Center (best Xmas cards money can buy), Jori Zemel Children's Bone Cancer Foundation, The Jimmy Fund, The Cancer Council Australia and Susan G. Komen.

So while we tend to give to the same organizations year after year, partly because it's easy I'm guessing, might we also just be addicted to a cause? How many of us make a point of supporting a particular cause and are just as happy to do it through almost any organization with that mission?

Do you tend to give to the same cause regularly or do you give to the same specific organization regularly? In either case, who do you give to and why?

Buy In?

Last week I went to a board primer to help me be a better YNPN board member. During this primer the idea of mandatory board donations came up. This isn't uncommon at all, in fact it's very common. You might even go as far as to call it a best practice. For some nonprofits it might mean just that a board member is required to donate something but for a lot of boards, there's a minimum donation and it's often pretty high (at least by my standards).

I recently heard of a local nonprofit with a $5K minimum donation. On the one hand this means they can count on at least X every year depending on their number of board members. This particular group has more than 50 board members so off the bat, they start with $250K in board donations each year. Hefty sum. You know that's great for their fund development people and makes program planning a bit less stressful.

But if you have 50 board members, are they all active? No way. For many its probably a social status marker, a resume item to show their commitment to the community. But if you make a $5K contribution, attend quarterly board meetings and one gala, is that really enough to give you the prestigious status of board member? Isn't that really being a glorified donor (not to shortchange donors in anyway, they are the lifeblood of many nonprofits and greatly appreciated)? Can't we praise and thank these individuals for being donors?

I guess this is where the crux of the discussion comes for me. While I appreciate the security of board donations, especially significant ones, I'm not sure that I want board members who just give. On the same token, I don't want to turn away a passionate, educated, motivated potential board member because their pockets aren't deep enough. For all the leadership a good board member is supposed to provide their nonprofit, I think we should be placing a higher premium on service.

At GSCTX we have an amazing board chair, Linda. I love Linda. She's great. She is a professional volunteer, in fact, she retired from being an elementary school principal in order to be our professional volunteer board chair. She's amazing. I honestly don't know if we have a minimum board donation but I'm inclined to guess that either we don't or it's low as I've never heard of it. So regardless of if Linda gives huge sums to the council, I'm really pleased she goes to bat for us every day in her community and at the office. She attends (and therefore pays to attend) many if not all of our fundraisers and is an excellent representation of the cool, confident woman we hope all Girl Scouts aspire to be. And best of all, she is truly passionate about empowering girls to be successful women.

In short, my two cents is I want board members who are ready to work and are interested in the cause. If they can make hefty donations to the organization, all the better. If they cannot, I hope and expect they will go into the community to aggresively raise funds. But above all, I want passion, involvement and dedication.

What do you think? Can you get board members who both donate heavily and work hard? Which is the ideal? Is reality different than the ideal? Will some boards always be purchased resume builders? What's the bigger business need for a nonprofit? Do the connections, prestige and funds that come with a wildly successful businessman (woman) equal or exceed the hours of a passionate board member lobbying in the community? Really, which is better for a nonprofit? Maybe I'm being idealistic; maybe big names with large donations are the most beneficial and that's why the trend exists. What do you think?

PS I'd like to note that this opinion is subject to change as I climb the nonprofit ladder and develop a better understanding of funding and politics. Of course, it might also not change but either way, that is to remain seen in years to come.

Circle Searching

A few weeks ago Ross came home and told me about GAGLE - Gab and Give, Let's Eat! It's a women's giving circle based around dinner parties and check writing. I'm not sure what talk radio show he was listening to that he heard about this. Believe it or not, women's charity is not nearly as popular a topic on his radio as baseball or football. Go figure.

We got to chatting about giving circles and he says to me "I wouldn't mind being part of one...I'd write the check and you could go do the social part. I'll come to like the end of year party." Now not to say my honey isn't charitable but I've never heard him suggest we write checks to people. I'm the bleeding heart. He's more of a "you should pull yourself up by your bootstraps but if your home burns down, I'll pull you out" kinda guy.

As a side note, as I read The Daily Beast today, I realized this is pretty normal. We've talked about it at the office before but men and women have different motivations to give. Women want relationships and communtiy health. Men want to be the best. So is it surprising that I am the bleeding heart and Ross is more action baseed? Probably not.

Anyways, so Ross said that once the Team Black cause is met (ie we buy a house and fill it with a little bit of new furniture) a giving circle could be part of world. Well this thrilled me. I love the idea. I love the charity, community and common demoninator implied in it. It's really all the things I would look for in a church but without the personal conflict (for me) about faith. SWEET.

I looked online today for Austin giving circles. There's Impact Austin but its all gals. I found a statewide circle but its all for the arts. I have nothing against the arts but I'm personally more into education and health.

So how does a young couple who wants to be simultaneously charitable and social do this? Do I need to start a giving circle? I could do that but the last thing I tried to start, a book club, quickly turned into a very flexible wine club. Is Austin's cuture right for a giving circle? I'm inclined to say yes but maybe not. Maybe we should join the United Way's Young Leader's Society but then its UWCA deciding where the money goes. I mostly think UWCA does a pretty good job but I would like to be involved in the process. That's part of the appeal of a giving circle.

We're not quite ready to be notably charitable. Not to sound greedy or selfish, but for the moment, time is the only thing we can give in hefty contributions. Between YNPN and the Sam Bass volunteer fire department, we're doing about all we can do. We've got a few years for Austin to develop an appealing giving circle or network. Maybe the I live here, I give here campaign can get something going. Or a new branch of the United Way or the Austin Community Foundation. Whoever does it, I hope it happens and we can jump on board.

Otherwise I may have to do it myself.

My Mission

When I went to DC I met Rosetta Thurman, a rockstar nonprofiteer who not only rocks at her own job but is sought out as a resource for young nonprofiteers nationwide. ROCKSTAR. Since then I've been following her on Twitter which has led me to a variety of her online genius-sharing forums. Today she tweeted a blog list she created about advancing your nonprofit career in 44 different ways. Number 13 rocked - Create a personal mission statement.

So guess what this blog will do...begin the personal mission statement!

First here's a tid bit from Rosetta about writing a personal mission statement

I have been developing my personal mission statement for almost a year now. It’s been a truly rewarding process to write and revisit my goals and values for my life and compare them to how I actually balance my priorities. There’s something really powerful and empowering about being able to say YES or NO to opportunities that come into your life based on how you want to live out your personal values. Dumb Little Man has a great definition of what a personal mission statement is:
Your personal mission statement should be a concise representation of what’s most important to you, what you desire to focus on, what you want to achieve, and, ultimately, who you want to become. In its purest form, it’s an approach to your life, one that allows you to identify a focus of energy, creativity, and vision in living a life in support of your inner-most beliefs and values. Also remember that your mission will change over time as you and your life change.

You can get the full scoop on her blog. I'm going to follow her steps for drafting and you lucky reader will be privvy to it all.

First, Rosetta says to make a list of your values, those things that mean a lot to you

• Ross
• My family
• Lexi
• The health and happiness of the aforementioned people (yes Lexi is a people)
• Making the world a better place
• Teaching my kids to make the world a better place
• Empowering people to help themselves
• Harnessing my strengths - writing, talking and connecting - to achieve great things
• Inspiring others to use their strengths to make the world a better place
• Being an integral part of my community
• Tactful honesty
• Meeting personal challenges and coming out on top
• Taking care of myself and the people around me

Second, what are your goals? How do you want to be remembered?

• Good wife and mother
• Inspiring
• Kind-hearted
• Ambitious and successful - I'll be honest, I want to be a nonprofit CEO or ED
• Debt-free
• Giving
• Mover-n-shaker for the greater good

Third, write the mission statement. Whew, OK here we go.. draft 1

I am committed to my family and my community. I value the health and happiness of both and strive to use my communication and relationship-building skills to empower them to reach their goals, build a happy future and identify and give back to their passion.
I don't think that sounds half-bad. It's the last clause that is most mission statement-y to me. It's very results oriented but I think the first parts are still needed. It's my mission statement afterall. I can decide what's needed.

DC - delta crazy

iphone_pic
Originally uploaded by cheryl_lynn425.

I'm taking a day to recoup from my vacation but I wanted to throw it out there - pics from the DC trip are up! I saw SEVEN friends from college, visited the Library of Congress, toured the Newseum, went to a wine festival, had a birthday party at Anna's, met Val's puppy and attended the national YNPN conference.

It was so good to see the college friends (mostly deltas or deltas by association) and just catch up. The two I saw the most, Val and Anna, are also two of the gals I've kept up with most. Thus conversation is not stuck in that "remember when" phase. It's nice. People who know that part of your history ridiculously well since its their history too but who also have a pretty good idea of where your life is at now. We know each other's habits, styles, general perspectives and favorite drinks.

And as for work stuff, I feel like I got so much out of this trip. From the session on fundraising through social media to comparing war stories with Anna (PR for Greenworks, which coincidentally is the cleaning product brand I am slowly switching to).

Now I'm home though, which is nice no matter how much fun vacation is. And my puppy is trying to jump through the door to find the pup outside. She's also developed two new-ish habits while I was gone. She now hides under the bed whenever she thinks she is getting a bath or might be in trouble and her obsession with dogs on TV has extended to all animals...ever cartoon. She can't figure out why she can't chase them through the TV. Silly puppy.