Getting a seriously large ‘dream donation’ (think your biggest ever donation yet!) is the most direct way to make a real impact.
So what are the ingredients to make this happen in the year ahead?
If you look at the Jewish leaders who’ve succeeded in building something significant in the past half century – what did they have?
One thing that seems to stand out is a deep connection to their core purpose.
With this, they were able to gain the trust and support of wealthy individuals to build over time something significant.
How can we deepen our connection to our core purpose and articulate it to others to gain more support from wealthy donors?
Our core purpose is the reason we’re doing what we’re doing. It’s the engine that powers each of us to really succeed.
In its most compelling form, it’s made of three key ingredients:
- ‘Your Story’
- ‘Your Vision’
- ‘Your Plan’
Each of these three ingredients, which are presented separately below, are really interwoven with each other. We’ll break them down here for clarity.
– ‘Your Story’ is your personal narrative of why you are who you are today. It gives context to your core purpose. It makes you someone (see this past post).
Sharing your story gives you authority, builds trust and makes you real. This is because it is built upon underlying values and experiences that make you – you.
When you share ‘your story,’ it makes you fascinating. It’s the glue to connect to others in a much deeper way than just sharing ‘what’ you do.
– ‘Your Vision’ is the major ingredient of these three.
With a clear vision, you’ll speak with purpose. And you become more valuable to the world.
When you effectively share your vision with people who share your values, you are giving them a part to play in your vision.
When you articulate your vision and make others feel a part of this vision, it becomes the key way to gain the ‘buy in’ of major donors.
Your vision and theirs become one. This is partnership.
The lives of the wealthy individuals whom you’ve inspired through your vision, become much more meaningful to them now that ‘you’ are a part of their lives.
Because of you, your mega donors have a significant place in backing a meaningful cause. It becomes their cause. And through your efforts, they leave their mark in the world.
– ‘Your Plan’ makes your vision real and makes you a visionary leader.
Your plan (we’ll speak more about this in a future post) shows that you mean business in a tangible way.
Not only that, but it will give you genuine confidence.
For your dream donors, it makes you real. Your plan becomes the catalyst for wealthy philanthropists to support your cause.
When you share, naturally, with a conviction ‘Your Story’, ‘Your Vision’ and ‘Your Plan’, you become a ‘kli’ to receive dream donations.
Use the questions below to kick-start your next step up in your journey.
‘Your Story’
- What’s your personal story – how you started doing what you’re doing?
- Why are you doing what you’re doing?
- Why is this important to you?
- And ask yourself ‘why’ again, to uncover why, what you think is important is really important.
‘Your Vision’
- What is your boldest vision you can imagine, that if you couldn’t fail and money wasn’t an issue, you could fathom pursuing?
- Write for five minutes, just letting the words flow in no order, what this vision looks like.
‘Your Plan’
- What is the smallest thing you could do about this, this week?
- How will the people who will benefit from what you do be ‘better off’ when this project is fully funded?
- What $ amount will you need to get it off the ground?
B’hatzlacha raba raba,
Avraham
P.S Thanks to those of you who shared your successes in using last week’s ‘The 5 Second Rule.’ Please feel free to share your feedback, chizuk and cheers on this post.
Do you need to raise more in 2019?
‘The Big Picture’ Consult could be for you.
It’s a personalized ‘one on one’ power session with me. In the session, you’ll gain at least 3 valuable, clear, implementable insights, together with a clear action plan, so you have needed mindsets and strategies to increase what you raised in 2018.
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Avraham Lewis guides Jewish leaders, running their own projects or organizations, to change their current reality and to ‘up’ their fundraising game and personal productivity, through effective mindsets, strategies and techniques, that have a track record of raising more funds.