Welcome to the For Impact Point Of View. I’m Tom Suddes and I’ve actually been banging around in this not-for-profit world for over 35 years and while there’s more up on the website in terms of credibility and bio and all that, I wanted to establish a little ’street cred.’ I began my career as a young pup development officer at Notre Dame, ended up being the director of development for a $130 Million campaign. We went $50 million over our goal. 25 years ago, in 1983, I founded The Suddes Group. Since then, we’ve managed well over 300+ campaigns and raised over one billion dollars. In the year 2000, my partner Nick Fellers and I created For Impact as a way to share and scale our message, our point of view, and our impact. And we do that through our training and our website.

I want to share with you our point of view, our message, if you will, and like any great message, I think it can be summarized on a napkin. Actually in this case, three napkins.

We have three really really big insights, if you will, that we think are going to help you as you go about your cause and your case. First of all, Insight 1: Is it really about being a not-for-profit? Is it about being a charity or a 501 (c) 3? or tax exempt? Why do we even define ourselves in the negative? It doesn’t make any sense. So let’s stop right now being a not-for-profit, and lets talk about, instead, what you are for. and what you are for, in our world is Impact.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this isn’t just semantic gymnastics. This is about an attitude. If you were to look at this as our first napkin and say wow, stop being a not-for-profit. Focus on what you are for and for impact. Nobody on your board, nobody on your staff wakes up in the morning and shouts “Yeehaw! We don’t get to make any money today!” Think about that as we move forward.

The second big insight, for me at least, was the idea that your impact drives your income; not the other way around. Just think about that just for a second. Your impact drives your income; not the other way around. So we’re not in the fundraising business, we’re in the impact business. So if we can clearly articulate our impact, our purpose, our message. If we can do that clearly, concisely, compellingly, what’s going to happen to our income? It’s going to rocket up. And therefore, if that happens, it comes back around, and what is created by more income is more impact. This is a pretty big deal for me. Literally it was an epiphany for me, and it becomes the second big insight. With all due respect and admiration to anyone watching this, board or staff or whomever, none of you have income that matches your impact. The size and scope of your impact should drive the size and scope of your income, not the other way around. We actually have put this on a napkin for you, you can see it on our website, you can do whatever with it. It creates these two insights on a napkin.

The third big insight is tied to the income and it says very simply, Just Ask. That’s insight 3. Just ask. Get out there, visit. Ask for help. Ask for involvement. Ask for engagement. Ask for commitment. Just don’t ask for money.

So there are the three insights: stop being a not for profit, be for impact; let your impact drive your income, not the other way around and when everything is said and done, just get out there and just ask.

www.forimpact.org for a lot more information and support and help.