By Gayle Gross

“I had no idea you did the work you do” and “It feels like you’ve been part of the community longer than you have” are two sentences a fund raising professional likes to hear. Especially, when they come from someone they’ve built a relationship with in their community.

Consider this:

1. Today is the day for you to feel good about what you do.
2. Fundraising is one of the hardest jobs there is and you are doing it!
3. You are successful at building relationships to fulfill your mission.
4. Everyday you mention how your services help others.
5. You believe in the work you do and encourage others to believe as well.
6. You strive to be successful and reach goals.
7. You have good and positive thoughts.

Your thoughts determine the path you’re on. Productive thoughts bring productive things. It takes time to harvest good thoughts. First, you must plant the seed.

1. You are good at networking and getting into the community everyday.
2. You write down ideas for improving relationships and you follow through on those ideas.
3. You are naturally kind.
4. You see the value in people.
5. You know everyone has natural gifts to share.

Our natural gifts are ours alone. No one will ever do things the same way you do. Sometimes people don’t recognize their own gifts and this is where you come in.

1. First – recognize your natural gifts!
2. Second – look for a person’s natural gifts during every conversation.
3. Determine ways a person’s natural gifts overlap with your mission.
4. Offer opportunities for a person’s gifts to be recognized through the work they do with you.
5. Accept the way a person wants to be involved and honor their help.
6. Be the connector of people in the community.

A connector is someone people look up to because they are an easy resource for finding trusted services. A connector gets called, usually before a person google’s their question. Feeling good about being labeled a connector is important. Connectors are powerful people.

Repeat after me:

1. I am the connector in my community.
2. I offer service to others.
3. I add value to people’s lives.
4. I give of myself everyday.
5. I am proud!
6. I am successful!
7. I SOAR!!

Gayle Gross has been a fundraising professional for over a decade. She harvested good thoughts to increase market share for a non-profit in Colorado Springs. That agency is now the recipient of the first “Agency of the Year” for their national organization. Network fundraising began as an idea in 2006 when Gayle helped a bank increase market share among local community banks. Success is achieved through managing networking events with SOAR with Network Fundraising. The system has the potential to double fundraising results within four months.

Listen to Gayle’s affirmation 4 min. video. (related to this post)

Learn more about:

• Gayle’s webinar series teaching people how to SOAR with Network Fundraising.
• Gayle’s SOAR Discovery Session, which is an audit of an organization’s current fundraising program.