Growing Up Pageantry

[Joe Flynn]

For much of my life I have shied away from fundraising, selling myself, and selling my story. The idea of asking for money no matter how good the cause, just wasn't something I was either comfortable doing or willing to do. I should also say that I have struggled over time selling who I was. I have stayed in the shadows of many people because of fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of looking stupid. Fear of trees. Who knows what I was afraid of! All I know is that over time I have given up countless opportunities, because I didn't want to approach someone and ask for money and sell who I was. Well no more. I'm too old for that thinking and I've learned too much. My entire career has been spent working in the non-profit sector and the last 6 years has been spent working for a quasi-governmental agency that funds non-profit programs. Working in this field I have had the opportunity to work with a number of professional fundrasiers and I have written my share of grants, as well as been a reviewer of countless grant applications. With all of that, I've learned a few things and mostly what I've learned is that in this pageantry activity of ours, we depend too much on the concept of "dues" and not enough on the concept of what we in the non-profit world call "selling your story." Learning to sell your story lowers the dues, resulting in more families involvement in your program.

Read the rest at http://paradigmwinterguard.blogspot.com/2013/05/fundraising-101-3-things-you-should.html