Positive Things Are Happening

A non-profit client of mine was talking about success breeding success and said, “people want to invest where they see positive things happening.”

It’s such a true statement and many of us have seen it in action. Your club pulls off a phenomenal event, hitting your fundraising goal or serving more kids than you expected, and you watch as the momentum builds within your membership. Am I right? Success does breed success.

Why does this happen? One reason is that people like to be a part of something that is going well, that is exciting and that is likely to continue being successful. Sure, it takes away some of the most challenging work and the greatest risks. Why not choose to build on successes rather than start from scratch?

The key, though, is ensuring that people know about them - both inside and outside of your club. Donors will be more inclined to give to a group that has demonstrated consistent successes. Potential members will be more likely to check you out and join if they are able to see what you have done with the member resources at hand. Existing members will become more involved and be willing to step up if they can build on successes rather than creating them from scratch.

What is your club doing to talk about the positive things that are happening? Are you limiting this chatter to specific audiences (i.e., your existing membership) or are you taking advantage of every outlet available to you?

Don’t hesitate to brag on yourselves. No one else will. How will you tell your community of prospects and donors that positive things are happening within Active 20-30?

The Kindness of Strangers

This is a totally random post, but one that we can have some fun* with. This didn’t happen to me, but rather to one of the writers for mental_floss (my absolute favorite magazine in the whole wide world).

Ransom Riggs wrote:
I was out of town at a wedding last weekend, and when I got back, I found a strange thing on my doorstep — a bag with a bottle of wine in it, on which was written: ‘I parked and blocked your driveway. Thanks for not towing me.’

Leaving aside the fact that I wasn’t around to be annoyed by whatever driveway-blocking may have taken place over the weekend, I’d say that’s pretty much the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for me. A bottle of wine? I have to assume that the three other apartments in my building, who all share my driveway, found similar goodie bags on their doorsteps. What a gentleman (or woman)!

Let’s start the week off with some feel-good vibes: what’s the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

* This is only fun if everyone plays along. Please post in the comments. Pleeease!

The Other Wes Moore

The Other Wes Moore is book about two young men who share the same name, come from the same low-income neighborhood, who are both raised by single mothers, whose lives have so many similarities, but whose outcomes are polar opposites. I had to pick it up and will gladly pass it along to anyone who wants to read it.

What turned me onto the book was an interview with the author on NPR. One quote from the interview stuck in my head: (the author asks this of the jailed Wes Moore who has been incarcerated for murder) “Do you think we’re all just products of our environment?” the response: “Maybe products of our expectations, or others’ expectations that you take on as your own.”

It got me thinking - do we do everything possible through our words and actions to set our children (our co-workers, our fellow members) up for the greatest successes? The jailed Wes Moore was expected to achieve very little - he came from a poor neighborhood, had been abandoned by his father and was surrounded by thugs. So, naturally, his community expected very little of him and he therefore expected little of himself - and he lived up to those expectations.

The author Wes Moore, although placed in the same environment initially, had a different set of expectations placed on him by his mother and a few special mentors. The outcome was day and night different, although it seems to have taken a force of nature at times to keep him focused on where he needed to be.

The question I have for you - how can we push each other and the kids we interact with to understand that we have higher expectations for them? We expect that our members will be successful leading committees, generating ideas and developing the members who come behind them. We expect the kids of our communities - regardless their circumstances - to be high school or college graduates and young adults who rise above what is handed to them.

Even though some of the kids we work with only meet us once or for a few hours a month, we have the ability to reset the expectations they and their communities hold.

Summer Lovin’ Speed Dating
July 31, 2010 - 6pm

Venue: Two Guys from Italy
1488 Us Highway 395, Gardnerville, NV

Date & Time: July 31st, 2010 ~ 6pm

$20.00 Registration Includes:
~ One Well Drink
~ Your Potential Soul Mate!

Benefiting Special Needs Children of Douglas County
Now accepting registrations for ages 21 & up: http://www.sierranv2030.org

I Wish Someone Had Told Me…

One of my volunteer commitments is with the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana where I serve on an advisory board for Gold Award candidates. The Gold Award, much like the Eagle Scout Award, is the highest achievement in youth scouting.

During this process - and especially during the final project presentation and interview - we focus on what the young woman learned about leadership, the need she focused on satisfying and what she learned about herself. One question we ask most candidates is: what advice would you give a girl thinking about or just beginning her Gold Award project? Most ladies begin the sentence with “I wish someone had told me…”

As Active 20-30 increases the number of new charters and the volume of successful clubs we have across the country, we have an opportunity to learn from one another and avoid repeating pitfalls. As existing clubs, we owe it to our new charters to impart knowledge and experiences in order to teach.

For those of you who have been part of the chartering process and for those of you who joined a newly-formed club, what one piece of advise would you give one of our chartering clubs? For those of you who stepped into an existing club, what would you impart to a new club looking forward to growing in Active 20-30?

Psssst… don’t look now, but there’s a club in formation reading this blog and eagerly awaiting your comments. Please don’t let them down.

By Trena Goble Roush

“At the end of the day it’s not what you say or what you do, but how you make people feel that matters the most.” - Zappos, Delivering Happiness

The book ‘Delivering Happiness’, written by Tony Hsieh - the CEO of Zappos, was released today to much acclaim. I just cracked it open and can’t wait to make my way through it. I’d love to know who else is reading this and discuss how the ideas in the book relate to the world of Active 20-30 (and trust me, they do), please let me know.

This quote hits close, especially with elections being held at the national level and with many of our club. The most important thing is how we make people feel - our members, our donors, our prospects and - especially - the children who need us the most.

How do you work to ensure that no matter what you say or do, you make people feel better or more fulfilled or more energized at the end of the day?