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    The Chicken or the Egg

    Published June 5, 2013 | By deborah

     

    So, which comes first: the money or the mission?  “Why, the mission of course” you answer ever so confidently.  

     

    But are you sure?

     

    Let’s think about this.  How many of you have had a really, really, really good idea for a new program, project or maybe even a whole new nonprofit organization?  I see a few hands going up back there in the audience.  Good for you: idea first.  And then what happened?

     

    Maybe you went to the Board of your JCC or Federation.  Maybe you went to the program chair, the executive director, your puppy.  And what was said to you in response to your really, really, really good idea?? (Woof does not count here)  Great idea! Go find the money and we will move right ahead with it.

     

    What happened next?  My guess is that you stuffed that really, really, really good idea right back into your brain and said something to yourself like “I will do that just as soon as I win the Lottery”.  And you might have even gone out and bought three lottery tickets to insure that you would be able to implement your really, really, good idea.

     

    I work with a lot of nonprofit organizations, both Jewish and non-Jewish.  And I hear a lot of really, really, really good ideas.  I teach classes on building and running nonprofit organizations and I hear a lot of really, really, really good ideas.  And I always say, “What a really, really, really good idea!  How are you going to pay for that?” Now I have many students who say to me “my idea is soooo good that G-d will provide” and we will be up and running very soon.

     

    And to them — and to everyone else — and to you, too — I say “NO MONEY – NO MISSION!”

     

    Raising money, most folks say, is NOT EASY.  I think that is because those same folks are thinking “Let’s do a wallk/run” or “Let’s do a big gala” or my personal favorite “Let’s do a golf tournament”.  And believe you me, this is NOT the way to get that really, really, really good idea funded.  Special events fund raising is time consuming (how many of you have spent 21 ½ hours stuffing goodie bags?), volunteer draining (did you know it takes approximately 932 volunteers to run a run?), dependent on the weather (did I tell you the one about the monsoon over Virginia Beach during our Great Dig for Cystic Fibrosis?), your region’s calendar of special events (I know you checked to see what was happening in the Jewish world that day, but did you know that the Foodbank, Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics and the American Cancer Society were all holding events that day?  Didn’t think so.  Did you know that it is really, really, really hard to raise money for a special event if you have no major sponsors to cover the expenses and all of your participants are participating somewhere else? (But more about the raising of major sponsors in a later blog)

     

    It is really, really, really quite simple.  The best way to get your really, really, really good idea to become a reality is to begin at the beginning and start to build some really, really, really good relationships with the folks in your community who have three attributes: 1 – a philanthropic soul, 2 – the money to do something with that philanthropic soul and 3 – a wonderful group of friends/acquaintances/business buddies who love and trust them.  And that is where the money for your mission will best be found.

     

    So, next time you have a really, really, really good idea, read my blogs! Because over the next few months they are going to be full of ways to raise money without the worries, stress, aggravation or hassle, or as we would say in Yiddish, all the tsuris!

     

    What the Talmud Says About Lasagna

    Published December 28, 2007 | By deborah

    “A light for one is a light for one hundred.” – Talmud

    As profound as the Talmud is, it doesn’t speak to me as clearly as food does (did I mention I’m Jewish?). When I read this quote, my first instinct was to go long — what profound meaning could we find in being a light unto the masses, how could we lift the darkness for one or one hundred, what unique gifts do you have that you can be sharing with more people…

    And then, lunchtime came. Which meant that the Talmud was clearly talking about lasagna. Not just any lasagna. My husband Michael’s lasagna.

    Michael makes a MEAN lasagna. It’s got all the standard stuff in it — cheeses, spinach, sauce, eggs. It’s got an added twist (a dozen cloves of roasted garlic, which makes for good eating and infrequent kissing on lasagna night). And it probably has some other stuff that I don’t know about, and likely don’t need to know about. In fact, when I suggested the addition of some more spinach the other night, Michael said as respectfully as possible, “could you just let me do it myself???” Hmmm…sort of sounded like one of our 6 year old twins…no, it sounded like someone who knows what he is doing and is saddled with living with a professional coach.

    But I digress…

    If Michael had just made his lasagna for our family’s eating enjoyment, dayenu. It would have been enough. A light (meal) for one (family). But here’s the thing. We invite people over a lot. And Michael makes his lasagna. So for my sister-in-law Rachel, who doesn’t cook, lasagna night at our house is a huge treat. Really. A light for another family. Dayenu. And then we (he) started making an extra pan each time, to give to Rachel. But wait — then Rachel asked if she could come over on Sunday and have Michael teach her how to make the lasagna so she could have it any time she wanted, and cook it for others. Give a girl a lasagna and she eats for a day. But teach her…you get it. A light for many more. Nice. Dayenu.

    But here was where the light shone even brighter: Our good friend Amy’s son is having his Bar Mitzvah next Shabbat, and Amy (having experienced Michael’s culinary magnum opus) commissioned Michael to make several pans of his lasagna for her extended family’s post-simcha celebration! Would we send her the list of ingredients and she would go to the story for us? she suggested. Could she write us a check to cover labor and materials? she offered.

    No way. Michael’s pleasure and honor to be a part of the simcha. From a humble tomato and noodle comes my husband’s light unto a hundred (well, 25+ aunts, uncles and cousins, but you get the gist.)

    Yes, I will resist the urge to go long, except to ask you: what are you currently enjoying that others might enjoy as well? Post here!

    And of course, Es gezunterheyt! (Yiddish for Bon Apetit)

    Deb

    www.myjewishcoach.com
    www.myjewishcoach.blogspot.com
    www.jewishorganizations.blogspot.com

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