October 14, 2008 | Tom Suddes
“We Become What We Think About”
“YOU BECOME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT.”
—Earl Nightingale
This is one of the most profound ‘THOUGHTS’ (pun intended) ever recorded.
Earl Nightingale is the father of personal development. Written in 1956, his
book, THE STRANGEST SECRET, was the seed from which the personal
development industry grew.
When Earl was 35 years old, he recorded this short message for a small
group of salesmen one Saturday morning. The message had such a positive
IMPACT that everyone wanted copies to share with their friends and family.
Earl arranged with Columbia Records to duplicate this record and ultimately
received a Gold Record for sale of a million copies. (This is in
the 1950’s!)
Here is THE STRANGEST SECRET:
“YOU BECOME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT.”
I want to summarize this message, but it’s only 19 small pages and takes
only 30 minutes to read or to listen to the audio. Just order your own copy.
Remember: “We BECOME what we THINK about.”
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October 13, 2008 | Tom Suddes
This play on words comes from my good friend Dick Celeste, President of Colorado College. Former Rhodes Scholar. Former Governor of Ohio. Former Ambassador to India. And currently, terrific father and grandfather. Dick gets this whole thing around CHANGE.
In this generation’s lexicon, ‘RULE’ is a good thing. So, yes, CHANGE does ‘RULE’.
At the same time, in order to really CHANGE something (yourself, your organization, the world), you also have to CHANGE (THE) RULES.
Paul Arden, in his wonderful little book It’s Now How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be, speaks for a multitude of entrepreneurs and change agents when he says,
“You can’t solve the problem if you’re playing by the RULES.”
I believe it’s much stronger than that.
THERE ARE NO RULES!
Obviously, without violating any moral or ethical principles, when it comes to trying to solve important social problems, health problems, education problems, financial problems… THERE ARE NO RULES.
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“BE the CHANGE you want to see in the world.”
—Gandhi
Gandhi’s eponymous quote is on everything from t-shirts to coffee mugs to bumper stickers. The power of this quote is around the word ‘BE’… which translates to ‘DO’.
CHANGE is up to us. Some of you reading this can actually CHANGE THE WORLD, especially leaders of CHANGE ORGANIZATIONS. All of us have the ability to CHANGE OUR world, our health, our income, our relationships, our lives.
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“EVERY organization needs to ABANDON almost EVERYTHING that it does.”
—Peter Drucker
The man has written what seems like hundreds of books and thousands of articles. This is surely one of my favorite quotes. He says EVERY. He didn’t even use the word CHANGE. He said ‘ABANDON’. He also didn’t talk about kaizen or tweak. He said (almost) EVERYTHING.
Again, I would bring you back to the idea of breaking some RULES, especially if those rules are merely constraints on thinking differently.
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“Every organization is PERFECTLY DESIGNED to get the RESULTS they are getting.”
—Tim Kight
Tim Kight is a friend and truly brilliant thinker. His quote is so obvious, yet always generates an AHA! moment.
If we’re not happy with current results or outcomes or the situation… we need to CHANGE the DESIGN of what created the result.
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October 10, 2008 | Tom Suddes
This week’s WOW plays off of last Friday’s teleconference and white paper on 3rd Sector Funding & the Economy.
- NOW MORE THAN EVER… we need to Think Like an Entrepreneur!
- NOW MORE THAN EVER… we need to Think Big. Build Simple. Act Now.
- NOW MORE THAN EVER… we need to Change the Performance Capacity of Society.
- NOW MORE THAN EVER… we need to Focus on Impact.
- NOW MORE THAN EVER… we need to Trust the Message.
- NOW MORE THAN EVER… we need to Get Back to Fundamentals.
- NOW MORE THAN EVER… we need to Embrace this Opportunity to Change the Way You Think, Operate & Fund.
- NOW MORE THAN EVER… we need to Not Make Decisions for Best Prospects.
- NOW MORE THAN EVER… we need to Position for the Future.
It’s been an extremely difficult week. Markets still plunging. Worldwide chaos.
I still believe with all my heart and sole that “THIS TOO SHALL PASS”… and we need to be out there with our CHAMPIONS and BEST INVESTORS and MOST QUALIFIED PROSPECTS.
P.S. Response to this “NOW MORE THAN EVER… message has been overwhelming positive and thankful. Every email, phone call and story, although anecdotal, has reinforced that the people that are out there (in the field, making visits, presenting opportunities) are having success. Even when the economy is brought up, it is dealt with in a visionary/impactful way.
We’ve posted the audio and full transcript online at http://www.forimpact.org/2008/10/economy.php for everyone in our For Impact Community. From everything I’ve heard, this has been a powerful tool to use with your board. Many people have even passed this onto their top investor.
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October 10, 2008 | Nick Fellers
You Need to Find a Way to Bootcamp – And Here’s Why
We’ve received many phone calls and emails about the economy, etc. What to do? How to change? How can we help? My response, plea and advice is find a way to get to training camp – and here’s why:
- It’s not a normal training: You don’t want “training”. I know that. What you want is money… to get out of the rat race… ‘the secret’. We’ve designed Bootcamp to be a stepping stone for transformation AND infuse money in the next 100 days.
- It’s not a normal training II: Again, not a boring workshop. Practical stuff. You’re building tools, strategy and DOING things the entire time. Very experiential – not two days of lecture.
- Totally customized: Everyone wants to know how to apply For Impact to ‘their sector’: schools, social service agencies, rural, museums, animal, green/environment, health, big nationals, small locals, etc. We customize each training camp to use examples and tools for YOU. We also take a lot of time to connect with each organization one-on-one to insure you’re ‘getting it’ and to work through your biggest challenges or strategic issues.
- It works: I’ve been following up with attendees from our last three training camps. Everyone is in the field, with prospects and generating real cash. $400,000 and $800,000 gifts (often these gifts are 2-3 times the entire funding goal!). So far this year 98.3% of attendees have said the tcamp ‘far exceeded’ their ROI expectations.
- It doesn’t cost any money: If you say it’s not in the budget then you’re right… you should NOT come – you have the wrong outlook and attitude. Be an entrepreneur. It has a 100% money back guarantee. I don’t play that up because it sounds ’sales-ish’ – not authentic. But we offer it because NOBODY has a budget for this. Re-allocate money and then use the ROI to provide budget relief wherever needed. UNDERWRITE this a SOLUTION. Recent training camp attendees have:
- Used money from a ‘marketing budget’.
- Had someone ‘underwrite the training’ – as a guaranteed
investment. - Put the training on a credit card and paid off in 30 days with
new gifts (I love this one).
We’re also in the field every week – during this economy or any other. Training camp cuts out all the fundraising crap and drills (and drills) on fundamentals for the org and for the individual. This is our way of impacting the 3rd Sector.
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October 9, 2008 | Tom Suddes
Nick and I knew we were on the right track with our Now More Than Ever message. What actually amazed me is that the is an incredibly high number of people who have responded with actual stories of raising significant dollars… by just being out there! Many are giving us some credit for the motivation and the message, but really it’s about their willingness to get out and JUST ASK!
So far, no one has written in and said they had a bad visit, or that economy was the major issue.
Remember, if you’re not out there… you really can’t weigh in on this discussion.
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October 8, 2008 | Nick Fellers
Put A Wrapper Around It And Sell As An ‘Initiative’
Put a wrapper on it and sell it as an ‘initiative’.
Increasing enrollment in economically distressed areas is a mouth full… but what if it you called it an ‘urban schools initiative?’
(Case management + domestic violence counseling + parenting skills workshops) is hard to explain to funders (and nobody wants to fund case management because nobody’s really sure what it means)… what if all this together were our ‘healthy families initiative?
Think about the great works you do that don’t fall under a clear project, program or priority and then put a wrapper around it and give it a new name… a new initiative… a way to FRAME your impact.
This is more than just window dressing and buzz talk. It’s you taking credit for what you do and explaining in a way that communicates the totality, the gravity, the impact of your greatest ‘activities’ that don’t fall cleanly into a bucket.
“We have a scholarship program and everyone wants to fund that but we need to replace the tiles in our hallway and add another janitor.” So what you’re saying is one of this year’s PRIORITIES is funding a WORLD CLASS LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.
“We do research and everyone wants to come on board once a trial seems to work but we need to fund our operations for all the other projects.” Ahhhh.. so what you’re saying is you don’t do operations. You do INNOVATION. Let’s drop the annual fund. As of today it’s the ANNUAL INNOVATION FUND!
In Tom’s campaign book he refers to one of the 33 campaign lessons – #4 EVERYTHING’S A PROJECT. This is what he means. You can put your arms around anything and make it a project, priority, program or… an INIATIVE.
Action: Do a brain dump to answer the following this question – “Where does the money go?” Most of you will start to create a list… a long list — put a wrapper around some of that stuff – choose a cool descriptor + initiative. Give the descriptor + initiative a price tag and then (like Emeril): BAM!
We do this exercise at Training Camp. Here is a list and result from a recent attendee:
- Research best practices for educating kids.
- Research state content standards.
- Write lessons and curriculum.
- We periodically have to review the curriculum and make updates.
- Print the curriculum.
- Market to teachers, nationally.
- Develop a system for teacher feedback.
- Salaries
- Develop a professional development course to support teachers.
- Etc. Etc. Etc.
Each item alone is – blah. But here’s what we came up with to communicate these priorities, succinctly…
- R&D ($130K)
- Publishing ($80K)
- Integrated Health Initiative ($230K)
Does number 3 need some explaining? Sure. Is it better than everything else up there? You bet.
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October 7, 2008 | Tom Suddes
Giving USA Data Reinforces People Still Give When Economy Down
Following last Friday’s address, Steve sent me a great report by Giving USA about fundraising and hard economic times. Steve’s summary of what organizations need to do during tough economic times boiled down to:
“Your loyal investors and leaders are more important than ever.”
Ditto. Echo. Agree.
The report is great RESOURCE for your board, your senior staff and your development staff. (Contact Giving USA to order a copy $45 – Issue 3, 2008).
Some quick highlights:
- Total giving has increased in current dollars in every year but one since recording began.
- When the economy shows stress, whether it’s a recession or not, giving may grow more slowly… but it’s important to note that giving still grows!
- Giving USA suggests under a heading of What Organizations Need to Do, that the most important step is to ask people for ‘contributions’ (Their word. Mine, obviously, is investments.) in a clear and focused manner.
They go on to say to work closely with the board and to develop and follow a plan! As they say, it’s easier to stay focused and maintain momentum with a plan.
- Here’s the closing line. “News reports often focus on negative stories, yet data shows repeatedly that donors continue to give during a recession or downturn and that nonprofit organizations continue to raise funds successfully!”
There’s a lot of good DATA but this line is the most important takeaway.
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October 6, 2008 | Nick Fellers
For Impact Films: Strong Bodies Fight
This summer we launched a new venture to produce some For Impact films. Long time readers and friends will find the first film to be a very natural fit: Strong Bodies Fight. Kudos to Mark and the team that are making this film worthy of its entry to Sundance later this year.
Strong Bodies Fight
Since 1931, the University of Notre Dame Men’s Boxing program has provided young men with an opportunity to train their bodies and minds while raising awareness and support for the Holy Cross Missions in Bangladesh, a country the size of Wisconsin home to 150 million people, half the population of the United States.
In May of 2008, for the first time ever, a group of 5 students broke the barrier between an ideal and its practical impact, traveling across the world to see the fruits of 78 years of sweat and blood and come face to face with their anonymous brethren. This is their story–one of hope, solidarity, and education.
Produced by Mark Weber and William Donaruma
Ass. Producer Patrick Ryan
Cinematography by John Klein
The trailer is out and the team has a great feature in Notre Dame magazine. Read the feature for a great piece about the Notre Dame Bengal Bouts story and boxing program. Tom is coaching again this year – his 35th consecutive year. (He’s also the ‘man in the ring’ at the start of this trailer.)
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October 6, 2008 | Tom Suddes
Transcript: 3rd Sector Funding & The Economy
“NOW MORE THAN EVER…”
3rd SECTOR FUNDING & THE ECONOMY
This is a transcript of an address by Tom delivered on Friday, October 3. To listen/download audio or view discussion & feedback click here.
I’m a scarred veteran of 35 years of funding visions, dreams and impact. I’m not a financial expert. I’m not an economist. I don’t know the difference between macro, micro or macaroni. I have nothing to offer on solutions to this economic mess. I’m just an OLD GUY who has been in the field for all these years and wanted to share some thoughts with other For Impact Leaders and Social Entrepreneurs.
For the last 25 years, The Suddes Group has been engaged in helping organizations and institutions raise over $1 billion. In the last five or six years, Nick Fellers and I have also been involved in coaching organizations towards another billion dollars.
‘GYA’. To grab your attention quickly, I would urge you to do the exact opposite of what most 3rd Sector Leaders and Development Staff are doing right now… which is hunkering down, hiding in the office, using “market turmoil” as another fabulous excuse for not getting out and visiting and presenting and asking your best prospects and your champions to continue to invest in what you do.
I was just with a wonderful group of dedicated development professionals, part of the Sales Team at a liberal arts college, and I used the phrase “THIS TOO SHALL PASS”…
“THIS TOO SHALL PASS…” is based on fact. The economy is cyclical. Always has been. Always will be. Full of ups and downs. You’ve just got to ride it out.
According to a recent article in Inc. magazine, I have survived 10 recessions in my life (if you count 1949 which was both a recession and the year I was born). This makes me both old and able to share some of these experiences with you.
- I was Director of Development during The Campaign for Notre Dame. $130M Goal. $50M over goal. This was also during a “recession”. I just didn’t realize it because I didn’t pay any attention to it.
- During an entrepreneurial stint in real estate, athletic clubs and other businesses, I had the joy in 1980 of going through Jimmy Carter’s gas shortages, high unemployment and interest rates that climbed from 11% to 22.5%!
For perspective, I had loans totaling $6M… at 2.5% over prime… paying 25% interest. That’s $1.2M a year, $100,000 a month. (I did not have that factored into my ‘business plan’. The good news was that it allowed me to write the first 3 chapters of a book: Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and Chapter 13.)
- I’ll never forget kicking off a $5M Economic Development Campaign in Orange County, California, the day after the county had declared bankruptcy! (I think we went 30% over goal.)
- I remember going to Cleveland and working on their Economic Development marketing effort right after the mayor had also declared bankruptcy and the river had caught on fire. (Again, goal achieved.)
- I remember, as we all do, September 11, 2001. And, I remember 9 days after those World Trade Center attacks giving a speech/talk/presentation in California with a large group of incredible staff and volunteers from the American Cancer Society. I wasn’t sure there was even going to be any flights nor that I wanted to get on one. But, I flew out and gave the talk. In essence, I said that nothing will change what happened; and that as horrible as we all felt, we had to march on… because the 6,000 plus people who had died on September 11th was the same number of people who die every single day from cancer. I told them that the work that American Cancer Society does was so important that, now more than ever, they needed to continue the Research, the Education, and the Service that ACS provides. (I’m sure you remember how the financial markets plummeted at this time as well.).
Every one wants to know WHAT TO DO. While not using these words, I think many of you also want to know how to stay positive in what are obviously negative times.
The first thing I’m going to encourage you to do is to:
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October 3, 2008 | Nick Fellers
Special Address – On Third Sector Funding & The Economy
Listen-on-demand: Special Teleconference – Recorded Friday, Oct 3, 2008
What the financial crisis means to “nonprofit fundraising” and how to respond.
With Tom Suddes, a 35-year veteran of the third sector.
In the past two weeks we’ve received hundreds of questions about the economy, funding plans and financial uncertainty. Tom Suddes has prepared a special session to address these questions including:
- What a ‘bailout’ and economic uncertainty mean to your organization.
- How to respond (based on field experience from other economic crisis and field experience over the last six months).
- An action plan including a conversation on the fundamentals which become increasingly important in a downturn.
As is always the case, Tom presents this ’state of the sector’ as a challenge to change — giving listeners the clarity to move forward and a ’shot in the arm’. The presentation lasts 30 minutes followed by 15 minutes of Q&A.
Click To Play:
Download MP3 | Transcript (Word Doc) | Discuss | *Buy Board Packs*
Who this is for:
- Board members and your best champions/benefactors
- Development directors and development staff
- CEOs, Presidents and Executive Directors
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About For Impact
We help "nonprofits" fund their visions through training, coaching and consulting based on 25+ years of experience and $1Billion+ raised directly and $1Billion via coaching/training. For Impact is also our message, our commitment and a movement.
