In Service: The Column of the ADRP President
Jen McGrath
Senior Director, Donor Relations & Stewardship
MIT Resource Development
I had My Plan. When you're a full-time mom, manager, and employee with the privilege of serving as president of an organization that you love, you need a strategy for keeping everything in balance—or at least from toppling over and crushing you. Hence, I had My Plan.
This January, I was empaneled on a grand jury. Yep. Three to four days a week through the end of March, my 22 new coworkers and I show up together and get up close and personal with the legal system.
Let that sink in. On a good week (that is one without a Monday holiday - who have I become?), I'm in the office only two days a week. I don't think I need to tell you this was not in My Plan.
Thankfully, My Plan already included—in fact required—the wonderful support of my boss, colleagues, spouse, and family. So, with extra thanks to all of those folks, I'm coming to accept that rather than laughing at me and My Plan, the universe is sending me feedback about some important lessons I may not have sufficiently absorbed until now or that needed to be affirmed moving forward.
I'm learning to better prioritize, figuring out who and what's really important to spend time with and on (spoiler alert: my kids and my team and the big-picture). I'm learning to let go a little, letting people help me, teaching and trusting. I’m allowing others to rise and do and lead, by simply staying out of the way (or by being largely inaccessible for good portions of the week).
I'm also more accepting of my own limitations. There are only so many hours in a day, and in spite of my best intentions, I can't get everything done that I'd like to. A very good friend sent me a text with this image; I'm working hard to tattoo its simple brilliance in my brain.
Feedback comes in many forms. There's the feedback we give and the feedback we receive.
There's the kind that I just described—unanticipated, unsolicited, often unwelcome. And then there's the kind that we seek and we crave to make ourselves or our work better. Sometimes, there's a hybrid of all of these.
The trick with feedback is what you do with it once you have it. Lucky for all of us, feedback was the subject of the February webinar and is a focus of this edition of The Hub. I hope you'll read (and listen if you haven't already) to what our wonderful colleagues have shared.
Have ideas or reflections of your own to share? As always, I'd love to hear from you directly on LinkedIn or Twitter @JenNesbit. Please also engage with ADRP on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @ADRPtweets.
My Favorite Donor Encounter
Noël Schiber
Senior Director of Stewardship
Medical Alumni and Development, Washington University in St. Louis
“I think I left my ukulele at the Chancellor’s house. Can you help me find it? I’m not kidding.”
This exchange is my absolute favorite of all work-related emails I’ve ever received. The reason? Well, number one, it’s not every day the that the word “ukulele” pops up in a message from a medical school faculty member. But, most importantly, it reminds me that all the people I serve are human!
Making Bad Good: Turning Negative Feedback into Positive Change
Suzanne Bellanger
Manager, Donor Marketing & Strategic Stewardship
Brown University
Try as you might to avoid annoying, offending, or undervaluing our donors—the lifeblood of your organization—it still happens. Even if you have the best intentions and feel as though you always put the donor at the center of every decision, someone is going to be upset about something at some point. You simply can’t please all of the people all of the time. And, mistakes will happen. That’s just a fact of life we all have to accept as humans. It’s going to happen. It HAS happened. And it WILL happen again.
Member Spotlight
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Name: Connie Short
Institution: United Way of Metropolitan Dallas
Position: Director of Donor Relations
ADRP member for five year
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What do you like most about being a member of ADRP?
Everything! The resources that are available through ADRP are amazing. I find the webinars, conferences, and ADRP listserv relevant and informative, not only to help me in my daily job functions, but also in my personal career growth.
Write for The Hub: We Want to Hear from You!
The Hub is seeking article proposals for new monthly issues!
Do you have a success story you would like to share? How did you handle a particular problem or project that seemed insurmountable? Have you discovered effective tactics that help gain a seat at the table? What are your thoughts on best practices or new, emerging ideas that take a donor relations/stewardship program to the next level?
We want to encourage our members—new and experienced—to share their insights, best practices, and what works (or doesn’t work!) when planning their shop’s programming and responsibilities.
We welcome all submissions related to donor relations and stewardship, but we especially encourage ADRP members to step forward and share their expertise and experiences in the profession.
The submission form is available any time you have an article proposal to submit. We have included the webinar topics for each month, in case you would like to tie your article to a specific webinar topic.
Please submit your article proposal today! We can’t wait to hear what you have to say!
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