How Are You Celebrating?

One of the things I love about our team at Veritus is that we like to celebrate a lot. In fact, we have a Slack channel that is called “Celebrations,” and that channel is exclusively set aside for anyone on staff to celebrate something that is either happening with our clients, our work, or even something personal.

I believe celebrating life, in large and small ways, is a way to show gratitude and uplift one another.

If you are a leader, manager, or front-line fundraiser, how do you celebrate the work you are doing? How are you celebrating individuals within your organization? How are you celebrating your donors?

I would encourage you, that if “celebrating” is not part of your organizational culture or something you personally do, to rethink that.

Let’s just state the fact that everybody works hard. Senior leaders, managers, front-line fundraisers, and yes, your donors. And let’s also state the fact that work—and life in general—is also hard. Add on that so many outside events and influences are extremely negative, that taking some time to celebrate can make a massive, positive difference for you, your colleagues, and your donors.

I cannot tell you the many times that I’ve had a tough day, and I read one of the celebration posts from our staff, and it completely turns my day around.

And if you think about it, taking the time to celebrate something good that has happened, or a donor that’s made a great gift or said something about your program they love, doesn’t take that much effort… yet the payoff is huge!

But you don’t have to take my word for it. If you Google, “What are the benefits of celebrating?” you will find hundreds of pages of studies on the amazing benefits of celebrating—from mental and emotional benefits to social and personal growth benefits.

I urge you then, to start creating ways to include celebration in your organization. Make space for it. Make it easy for people to share their personal, work, and donor wins!

Notice what a difference it makes in your life!

Jeff