Some may ask, “How will my intention to live a richer life help the non-profit community?”
The answer to this is found when you consider some of the most significant challenges that many non-profits deal with day in and day out. Let’s consider these challenges and how living a richer life will affect them.
Challenge #1: Non-Profits are often short-handed in their attempt to deliver services addressing their mission. Without able and consistent help, the organization may not be able to reach all those they intend to serve, nor be able to serve well. Most organizations do not have large budgets with which to hire a lot of help, and thus risk mission failure without the help of dedicated volunteers.
When you determine that you will find a fulfilling purpose by contributing your time to an organization allied with your priorities, you likely will find the pathway to living your richer life. For the organization, you are then helping to extend the reach and impact it makes on more lives. Your assistance, and that of others, is the life-blood of success for many non-profits. What’s more, volunteers nationally contribute time worth the same amount as overall financial donations, volunteers effectively double the impact a typical organization makes and significantly boosts the success of the non-profit in accomplishing its mission.
Challenge #2: Running an effective non-profit organization is similar to running any business. There are legal, accounting, marketing, HR, investments and other issues that must be addressed in addition to the organization’s mission day in and day out. Expert help in these areas is not cheap. And every dollar designated to these experts takes away from devoting those resources to the mission. Organizations risk operational failure without the expert guidance of dedicated professionals.
When you determine that you will find a fulfilling purpose by contributing your expertise to an organization allied with your priorities, you likely will find the pathway to living your richer life. For the organization, you are helping it operate efficiently and productively so that it can better focus on serving people at the heart of its mission. Experts can serve in Board roles if desired, lending expertise when and where needed, or they can devote their guidance and efforts, as a “skills-based volunteer”, to projects as determined a priority by the organization. These contributions can save an organization thousands of dollars of consulting fees, allowing them to focus more resources on their mission.
Challenge #3: Nonprofit organizations need to manage the resources offered in order to effectively deliver their services and accomplish its mission. Without a clear vision of the organization’s future and what resources are needed to succeed, the non-profit may fall short of its potential impact. Further, failure to integrate these resources efficiently into the organization’s strategic plan can produce both short-term frustrations as well as long-term mission failure.
When you determine that you will find a fulfilling purpose by contributing your business resource management guidance to an organization allied with your priorities, you likely will find the pathway to living your richer life. For the organization, you are helping it understand resource needs and how to integrate those resources into a strategic plan designed for long-run mission sustainability. These contributions can help the organization not only succeed in the short run, but also sustain their ability to meet evolving mission needs over the long run.
Challenge #4: Non-profit organizations must continually attract and put to use financial resources in order to meet its mission. If the organization does not see the potential for support from key donor groups or individuals, it may well not accomplish the fundraising goals needed to deliver its mission promise. If the organization doesn’t know how to advise key donors about their planned giving opportunities it risks leaving potential financial contributions on the table. If the organization doesn’t seek long-term legacy gifts, it risks mission failure due to naturally fluctuating annual support and lack of the potentially stabilizing support from endowed resources.
When you determine that you will find a fulfilling purpose by contributing financial and other resources to an organization aligned with your priorities, you likely will find the pathway to living your richer life. For the organization, ongoing support is critical to delivering on its mission. Further, organizational sustainability can be greatly enhanced with planned and legacy gifts, which provide operating resources over long periods of time. Without effective philanthropic strategies and tools, organizations risk missing significant and ongoing contributions and resource funding which are required to continual evolution and sustained delivery of services, which produce mission success.
When you determine to focus on living your richer life by helping a charitable cause, you can help non-profit organizations in a number of critical ways that are the difference between ongoing mission failure and success. These are important and significant contributions to these organizations and to your communities.
If you would like to learn more about helping a nonprofit thrive and starting your path to Living a Richer Life, please contact me @ richardwardcfp@gmail.com.
