SHUTTING DOWN
I have always been a voracious reader. Lately, however, I’m finding it hard to keep up. The news flies—fast and furiously—and there are just too many books that I want to, need to, read. And, like most of us, when I get overwhelmed, I shut down.
I get notices of this, or that, or something that is truly of interest. But I can’t. I’m overloaded and feel under resourced. Like so many of our nonprofits.
Too many of my clients are on hold; others decided not to start. And while for some that is exactly the right decision, for others it is quite wrong.
Rather than shutting down completely, it is far better to understand what is important.
Remember the Eisenhower Matrix. It’s a tool that helps you to prioritize tasks according to their urgency and importance.
There are four quant rants:
Urgent and important. These are those things that either have hard deadlines and/or consequences—usually bad ones—if you don’t do them on time
Urgent and not important are those things that require attention, but you can do them in your own time.
Not urgent and important are tasks that have longer term deadlines, or no clear deadlines at all. However, these are things that will contribute to your long-term success
Not urgent and not important are those time sucks that are too often where we spend the most time. They are unnecessary. They are time-wasters.
At this time of too many crises, too much going on, it turns out to be a good time to figure out what is urgent, what is important.
A good way to do this is to consider What will happen if I do this or don’t do it? Will it make a different to my clients, my organization, my staff?
Many organizations have been put into crisis mode because of the freezing of government funding and grants and—more insidiously—the insecurity of what is going to happen next. I’ve had clients tell me that we had to put that strategic or fund development planning on hold. But this does not actually serve your organization well.
Fund development especially is always urgent and important. Rather than pulling away, organizations should now be leaning into raising funds. Everyone should be recruited to participate. Some by identifying who might be great prospects, others to advocate with individuals and foundations for the great work the organization does. Many can say thank you, not just to current donors but to those who have made a commitment in the past. And yes, some can actually make an ask.
For things that are urgent and important, figure out timelines so you don’t miss deadlines. Over the years, I’ve been flummoxed by the organizations who call me after Thanksgiving, in a well-deserved panic because they “forgot” to do any work on their end of year campaign.
Given that most money comes to nonprofits in the final month of the calendar year, this can define the word disaster for many. And they “forgot”? What, I always wonder, have you been spending your time on?
If right now, you are spending your time feeling panicked, depressed, without hope, I get it. But that is not a wise way to utilize the time you have.
A colleague of mine always says that in order to solve a problem, you first have to be able to articulate it. I think that is wise and a good use of your time. What is the most urgent, important problem you must solve? What are the ways that will work best? Be realistic. If, for example, funding is a problem, don’t fall into that trap that you must immediately find a very wealthy person who will replace funds that probably will be lost. Instead, think about what funds you can raise; what programs and/or messages might most resonate (and that is most definitely not a whine about what you are losing), and who can you most effectively reach?
Then, instead of shutting down, open yourself up to the opportunities that are there. Is this the time to collaborate with an organization that perhaps works in your same area but whose programs deal with the problem in a different way? Now is the time to think about how you can strengthen your organization and best serve your clients and your cause. And it is also time to retire those things that are neither urgent nor important. Even if those things are sacred cows.