When people ask you what you do for a living, how do you talk about it? When you are finished telling the person what you do and why, are they thinking, “Wow, this person really loves their job!” or “Huh, I’m glad I’m not doing what they are doing.”
I really hope you get the first reaction.
I would say the thing that Richard and I love most about our work is that we get to help major gift officers and their managers succeed. There is nothing like helping people find joy in their work.
Becoming a great major gift officer is not easy. It takes work. It takes a certain personality to handle great highs and lows. Sometimes it can feel like a real slog when you are reaching out to donors and they don’t call you back. There are days when the pressure from management to “get the money” seems unbearable.
As an MGO, you have to be patient and persistent. That is difficult. However, nothing that comes easily seems to be really worth it in the long run. Right? Some days I know you probably don’t want to agree with that.
But you also know that what you do is helping change the world. Your work is literally helping to save lives, helping to make the world a better place for us all. For that, all your hard work is worth it.
There are times in our blog that Richard and I get pretty “in your face” about what is expected of you in your profession. We don’t apologize for that. We want you to be great. We also have great compassion and understanding for what you do, because we have been there ourselves.
To help encourage and inspire you, we wrote a white paper called “Six Secrets to Becoming an Extraordinary Major Gift Officer.” I think you’ll find it really engaging and different. Different in that these six secrets are not what you would call common. They take you out of your comfort zone and get you thinking.
Our hope is that you’ll read it and be inspired to be better at what you do. And then, pass it on to your colleagues and your manager.
I’m going to give you a sneak preview of the third secret. It’s called “mistakes are mandatory.” What we mean is that great MGOs are never afraid to try new things, go out on a limb, or test new ideas and strategies – because they know they will learn something new. Sometimes things don’t work out; that’s okay. Most of the time we learn new things when we mess up. Gosh, I know I do.
So if there is one thing you could do today, go out and try something new that will engage your donors or help you connect with a donor you haven’t been able to get ahold of. It may not work, but at least you did something new to “shake it up” today. You are doing important work. But you should also have joy in doing it.
Request the free white paper today and get inspired! It may be just the bit of inspiration you need to take your work to a new level.
Jeff