From Passion to Reality. Non-Profit dreams come true!
Posted 08/29/2008 - 20:24 by motero
- Be a Visionary - before you can start to plan anything you must first dream. Who is it specifically that you would like to help?
- Have good communication skills - Communication is essential when networking and trying to get donations.
- Be Detail Oriented - Donors want to know how you are spending their money.
- Be Team Oriented - The best products and results often come from teams collaboration.
- Be Resourceful - Know how to fundraise in different ways. You can have all the dreams in the world, but it takes money to make thing happen.
- Be Resilient - You have to be able to bounce back from bad experiences.
- Understand Change - Everything changes from technology to laws to the way people do business. Always keep researching and don't get left behind.
- Empower others - Giving your subordinates more responsibility is empowering them. One person cannot take all the work and credit.
- Be Self-Driven - No one is going to tell you what has to be done next. You have to prioritize and plan.
- Be a teacher - have a system in place where either you or someone else can help employees transition from one process to another.
- Sell Yourself - You have to sell yourself and your organization especially in the beginning. How else will you organization grow?
- Know HR - You must always heir people that are smarter than yourself.
- Be Optimistic - fundraising isn't always the easiest task, especially in times of economic downturn. You have to be persistent and patient.
- Be Realistic - know how to plan in phases for long-term and short-term goals.
- Be a life-long learner - There's always a better way to do things and grown, never stop learning.
There are some excellent points mentioned here. Well layed out by the way. Be Visionary is something that I Definately agree with, we can't chase nothing we have to chase our vision. Understand change is something that I felt could have further insights. I do believe that to understand change something has to see and experience something they would never dare or do besides just knowing and researching. You raised a very intersting point in hiring people that are smarter than yourself. Not everyone would dare to do that as they fear being outsmarted but a very interesting point considering that new ideas could change a lot of things.
The skills mentioned in the above list seem to be very true and also include some of the skills that I didn't think of. It is indeed very important to be very realistic about your ideas and goals. A business success cannot be achieved overnight. Hence it is very important to give it enough time. Also some businesses do very well in the beginning but end up going out of business later. It is very important to be realistic and keep this in mind while starting a business.