Know What You're After

After joining my Cause, I intentionally made my first contribution as big as I possibly could. It was a huge stretch for me. But I knew I wanted to and I knew why.

First, to have an impact on children.
Second, I wanted to inspire people.
Third, I wanted to meet people.

The people I initially met were members of the Cause. Some were grateful, some were moved to action, others presumptuous. I remember notes of people being inspired and making commitments to make donations of their own. And then there were the kinds of notes that were less inspired. One made me laugh. The writer said, "Well, if I had an extra $500 sitting around..." and I remember thinking to myself, there was nothing extra about any of those $500. Each of those dollars had several intended results. First, to raise money for Arts Education for grade school children. Second, to inspire some of the members to increase their giving. Third, to open the lines of communication with people in the Cause and people in the Charitable Organization we serve.

A week after I made that contribution I received a personal note from Americans for the Arts, thanking me for my contribution. I followed up and met some of the primary people who work there. I asked what were some ways the Cause could support their efforts and agreed to follow up with them.

That was months ago. A lot has happened since then. We've accomplished nearly everything we've set out to complete.
But our primary aim remains at hand.

If you have specific questions about how to reach or mobilize your community, feel free to ask. I'll do what I can to shed light on any topic you throw my way.

Start by Following

What does it take to lead a Cause on Facebook?

I believe all good leadership begins with a study in following. Between setting my first giant goals (post 1) and deciding to set objectives (post 2) I dug around the Cause for awhile and asked a lot of questions. I got super clear on what could work better and what members wanted from an effective Cause.

I made an agenda to serve from and ran it by the Administrator. At the time, I had no idea about becoming an Administrator myself, I just saw that there was work that could be done. And so I made a list.

And from there I had a framework I could operate out of. I knew the primary concerns, challenges, goals and objectives of the membership in general. And, I dug around until I was satisfied in the material about the non-profit organization our Cause was supporting.

I was fortunate there. The information available on Americans for the Arts was thorough, accurate, and simple to access.

And so, I began my effort to inspire people in the community.

I decided to hit one of the top spots in the Hall of Fame, simply for the sake of inspiring people.

I saved up $500 over the course of a couple of weeks. From where I look, that's a lot of money to almost everyone. I knew it would create a dent and it would perhaps inspire other people to throw in $50, maybe even $15.

But, I learned a big lesson. I learned I nearly threw that money away when it came to my goal...!

I'll explain that in the next post.

Follow Up With Bite Size Goals

Last entry I told you how I got started Leading a Cause on Facebook.

I set an unreasonable goal for myself (raise $50,000 in a year).
I picked a Cause I believe in with my eyes closed - Arts Education for Grade Schools.
I told everyone I knew and people I didn't know, what I was up to.

And then..?

Within two weeks I was invited by a High School classmate (who honestly, I think forgot who I was) to a Cause on Facebook that was exactly what I'd committed to.
I'd been researching different organizations I could support, and this was just the one. I really couldn't believe it, but more importantly, I couldn't pass it up.

I joined, read everything I could, met people, and in a couple hours I arrived at the place I think most good hearted people end up a couple hours after they join a Cause.

"Now what..?"

I started conversations with members, asking what they liked about the organization, what they accomplished by being members, what their primary concerns were.

And I got very little response.

I wrote the Administrator with my questions. Still nothing.
I looked at the Hall of Fame (a small board that lists the most effective members in the areas of fundraising and enrollment).

And I decided that on the way to my big goal, I would need some little goals.

We'll get to those in the next post. Just remember, it often helps to break down big unreasonable goals into the bite size goals that make the big picture possible.