9 Steps to Rediscover Your Passion for Your Nonprofit Work
Remember Your ‘Why’, and You’ll Overcome Discouragement and Weariness
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Nonprofit work is hard. For most nonprofits, the difficulty doesn’t just relate to fundraising.
Most of you are doing work that touches some part of this world that has great needs, experiences traumatic suffering, or endures under horrible daily realities that most people living in the developed world cannot fathom. And you probably don’t get paid enough for it.
Do you ever feel discouraged or overwhelmed? Ever feel like things are changing too slowly? Frustrated by a lack of donor trust? Why is there so much need, in spite of all the great work being done by nonprofits and charities around the world?
If what I’m saying here relates to you in any way, keep reading, because I have some encouragement for you.
The main takeaway I want you to get is this:
Remember your why.
Know why you are doing this work. If you’ve forgotten, it’s time to take a step back and figure it out again. To do anything difficult – not just work for a nonprofit – you must have a reason for doing it that is greater than yourself. Otherwise, you’ll never stick with it when the opposition gets too fierce.
If you need help remembering your why, I’m hoping this article helps you re-discover it.
First, let’s start with what you can stop doing.
3 Things to Take a Break from If You Need Some Inner Revival
1. Stop listening to dire and gloomy reports about fundraising
Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay
Giving is down. Donor fatigue is up. Trust in nonprofits is at an all-time low.
Ever hear headlines like these? I’m not saying to ignore these things and deny reality. We’re not living in a bubble. Though, some of these headlines often paint a darker picture than what’s really happening.
But for now, take a break from the cynical voices who say what you’re doing is too hard, and take the challenges in stride. Yes, fundraising is difficult. But what we’re doing is worth it.
2. Stop looking to social media for… anything. Just turn it off
I am rarely on social media, for many reasons. Primarily, I think it’s just a waste of time and adds little value to my life or the goals I’m pursuing. But if you like social media, that’s fine. Just recognize the way it affects you.
Studies repeatedly find that young people today who spend more time on social media are more depressed, stressed, and isolated than those who aren’t on social media. I don’t have any studies on hand at the moment, but I read this sort of thing frequently. It’s at the level of ‘common knowledge’ by this point.
Social media…
- Breeds insecurity – when your posts and shares don’t get the same attention as those of other people
- Breeds anger – when we read things that offend or upset us, and get into word battles with people we barely know
- Breeds discouragement – when we’re constantly comparing ourselves to other people
- Breeds frustration – when the platforms continually change their algorithms and make their tools more difficult to use
- Breeds dissension and disunity through deceptive political claims – the whole fake news thing
I could go on.
If you’re feeling discouraged or down about your work, social media is the last place you should be. It’s isolating. It wastes time. It often adds little value to our lives.
Take a break. A long break.
3. Stop dwelling on your political opponents
No matter your place on the political spectrum, it’s easy to wrap yourself around your opponents and ‘enemies’ in anger, obsessing about their opinions, reacting to whatever they’re saying or doing in the news, and so forth.
Again, I’m not saying to disconnect forever. But take a break. Set it aside for a month. The world will go on. It will be very easy to catch up when you return.
Remind Yourself Why You Do Nonprofit Work
Once you’ve stopped participating in activities that drain your spirit, it’s time to revive the passion and motivation that led you to this line of work in the first place. Here are a few prompts to get you thinking about your ‘why.’
1. If You Don’t Do It – Who Will?
Your nonprofit might be the only one standing in the gap against whatever force of malevolence is working against you. Think about that. Think of yourself in a war, as the last man or woman standing in your unit.
If you quit, if your nonprofit closed down, what if no one else took your place?
Good things don’t just happen by themselves. People make good things happen. Left alone, the world decays. It does not get better. (At least, where people are concerned… the natural world is remarkably adept at rebuilding itself).
2. Change Is Good and Necessary
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
I repel from the belief that people and systems cannot change. Many people fall into this way of thinking though. And it’s easy to do especially when you’re weary of the fight.
The city of Seattle has spent kajillions of dollars trying to fight homelessness, and it’s just getting worse. It’s easy to throw in the towel and declare that it’s just never going to change.
But change is necessary if human society has any hope. Change is essential.
Your nonprofit is changing things. You’re fighting injustice, restoring hope where none remained, giving opportunities where none existed, combatting oppression, and alleviating poverty.
Without you, things would either stay the same or get worse. You’re making them better.
3. People Need Help. The World Needs Help
We can’t do this alone. Devoting yourself to a profession whose sole purpose is to help people represents a commitment to making the world better.
People won’t stop needing your help.
Some nonprofits like to say things like, “If we fully accomplished our mission, our organization could close its doors.” As in, if we could eliminate homelessness, then all the nonprofits working to end homelessness could close.
But let’s get real. People will never stop needing help. Your mission – which you have already chosen to accept – is to get out there and help them.
3 Ways to Revive Your Spirit Once You Remember Your ‘Why’
1. Take a Fresh Look at Your Routine
If you work in fundraising, maybe it’s time to stop doing the same thing every year. Get out of ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ ways of thinking.
Take a risk. Change your language. Find a new story. Find new ways to describe what your donors accomplish when they give.
If you work in another area within a nonprofit not related to fundraising, do the same exercise. Step outside your routine and consider eliminating or altering activities you’ve been doing for a while that may have limited value.
Find ways to make more time available by cutting unnecessary fillers.
2. Do Something Out of Your Comfort Zone
Image by Elias Sch. from Pixabay
For most people, this means doing something that involves another person.
If you’ve never called a donor because that’s not “your job,” forget that way of thinking. Go call a donor and thank them. Commit to make the conversation last at least 10 minutes.
If you usually resist making presentations to your group, decide to take the lead the next time the opportunity arises. Stand up in front of a group and speak to them.
If you don’t get along with someone in your workplace, be the one to make change happen right here. Go initiate with that person and try to find a way to have a good conversation.
Busting routine also breaks up predictability and how it wears down our brains into ruts. Force your brain to activate new areas. Give it something new to work on.
3. Go Out in ‘the Field’
Especially if you work in fundraising or some other area of internal support, maybe you’ve never actually been out on the front lines of whatever your organization does.
Even if you work in a museum or arts organization. Have you been to a concert? Have you seen the new exhibit? Do you ever go down and talk to people visiting your organization? Those are your front lines.
Go see the people you’re helping. Don’t offer solutions. Just meet them. Talk to the people on your staff who work with them. See their housing. Meet the kids, the families, the abused women, the addicts, or the accused that you’re nonprofit and donors are serving.
See the effects of the malevolent forces on real lives.
Remind yourself why what you’re doing matters.
Once you know your why – why you do this work – you will see all your tasks, even the mundane ones, in a new light.
And to be clear – this is not your nonprofit’s mission statement. That’s not YOUR why. That’s their why. This is about you. Why do you come to work each day?
Leave a comment below if you want to share your ‘why’ with everyone.
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