Sage Life Chapter Memo #3
Image from Faith Broussard Cade, on Instagram as fleurdelisspeaks, whose daily affirmations always resonate.
I have now officially been at my new job in a new sector that is in a new community for 6 months. In that six months I’ve helped raise right around $1,000,000 for the organization.
What?!?!
Did I just write that?
Yup. I did.
Did I start this year at an organization I had birthed and proudly brought to a 500K budget in 14 years and end this year having raised right around 1 Million Dollars for an organization that I just started working at six months ago?
Yup. I did.
Wow. I’ll admit it’s hard to wrap my head around this one…especially at a time when so many non profits are struggling and we are all concerned about what's to come....
Around ten years ago, when I was still in the beginnings of growing WAM Theatre, there was a ton to learn but there was no question that fundraising was my steepest learning curve. If I was going to a bank to ask for $250, I had to take some quiet time beforehand to ground and center myself and then, when I got home from the ask, I was so tired that I had to lie down and take a nap. Literally. I was completely spent from the vulnerability and courage it took to ask for money to support this new idea we were birthing.
In late November of this year, I had a week in my new job where I did two fundraising pitches in the space of two days, both for over six figures, and, while I was tired at the end of that week, I was fine.
Amazing. I remember during that week I thought back to those early days of WAM and felt astonished at my growth.
Rarely in my life have I been aware of such a clear example of growth than the one I’ve had with fundraising. Putting in the practice, over and over again, building the muscle, stretching and failing, falling and rising, gaining the skills and experience, day by day, month after month, year over year.
I’m very lucky- the organization I work for now has an incredibly strong reputation built over the last 45 years, the work we do has enormous impact in direct service for victims and survivors of domestic violence and also in prevention education and awareness raising around healthy relationships and the community that supports us is, across the board, very generous. I’ve never seen the annual appeal responses flow in as quickly and generously as they have at this organization.
With that as the lucky base, I have been able to successfully take the skills I have gained over 14 years at WAM and 30 years in the theatre and oversee the development outreach strategy, write the grants, access the help to edit and gather grant materials, and curate the pitches and site visit experiences for the three six figure grants we’ve received in the last two weeks.
The first one came in at $150K. I’ve never seen a check that large! I’ll never forget that moment and never take it for granted. Being with the team in my office, nervously opening the envelope together and then all seeing that check from that family foundation is now etched into my memory forever.
The second one was a big win. We are one of four organizations selected to receive a prestigious and competitive new five year multi-year operations grant that represents 500K over 5 years- 100K a year. I really, really wanted that win in my first six months and we are all so thrilled and honored to have been selected as part of the first cohort of this new and innovative foundation grant that will have an incredible impact on the future of our organization and those of our colleagues in the cohort.
The final one was a surprise- an annual gift of 25K turned into a 100K match for the second, and final, phase of our building renovation after a lovely meeting and tour with a foundation representative- a prominent visual artist’s foundation- which felt so appropriate. Holy smokes!
Plus an annual appeal that is heading closer to 150K and a few other gifts and grants means that, in my first six months, I’ve helped raised WAM’s budget TWICE over. It’s surreal.
When I left WAM, I felt ready for the next step. But I didn’t know what it would look like. Now, I am learning that it looks like being immensely challenged as a leader as I navigate leading a much larger organization and deal with new experiences in Human Resources and Finances. It looks like digging deep to call on all the strategies I’ve developed at WAM, as an artist and in my own personal growth journey to stretch myself and hold myself accountable to my own values as I learn about a new staff, board, community and sector.
And it looks like using all the skills I’ve learned in 30 years in the theatre to help raise a million bucks in six months. The impact that’s going to have on sustaining our social change work over the long run is vast.
I have no idea what the next six months hold, but the universe and my guardian angels sure seem to be looking out for me and I’m grateful.
I remember, at a tough time of life in my mid 40’s when things changed suddenly, unexpectedly and painfully, being, once again, terrified of being a starving artist in my 50’s. That has been a guiding fear in my life and one I’ve tried to avoid by making certain choices at different intersections of my life. In that time of sudden uncertainty, I worked hard with a therapist to reframe that fear so I could believe that I would, instead, be an abundant artist in my 50’s.
Well, I'm now in my 50's....
While I’m not working in the arts right now, I remain an artist....
And I can say, without hesitation, that I am abundant.
The reframing is working.
How wonderful is that?
Onwards and Upwards.
