When you share knowledge try for a lasting impact that stems from a desire for good and not harm instead of a short non-lasting impact. Share knowledge thinking of the welfare and benefit of others instead of just for personal benefit.

As I read through your email, what struck me was the enormity of how many people are out there, dealing with pains and hurts from the past and wounds, that need to hear about the love of Jesus for them.  Even if we had unlimited resources, the task would be so great that we would never be able to complete it.  We seek to reach individuals, but only God is capable of turning the hearts.  It’s as if God shows us the world and gives the desire to reach out to them… so many rush out to help the hurting and speak words of love and healing, but the job is never-ending… I believe that God is looking for those who will leave their comforts and families and give their lives to go, but even more so, He is looking for those who will realize the magnitude what is really out there.  We cannot “go” to enough people to make a difference.  So He invites us to realize our weak state, humble ourselves, and pray.  He invites us to simply agree with what He already wants to do.  And when we understand that we are weak and broken vessels who can’t go long enough or say words good enough, yet we agree with His heart, He will then partner with our weakness and infuse us with strength to carry the message of His love.  The awesome realization is that He entrusts the mobilization of His strategy to reach the lost and forgotten peoples of the earth to us, the meek and lowly ones, who understand we are nothing… we are incapable of having any lasting impact without His grace…  To those who realize that “God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble (those who understand that they have nothing — no power, no worth, no good thing — apart from Him).”

He’s waiting for those who have first humbled themselves, asked for His Spirit to reach where we cannot, to heal what we cannot, to touch what we cannot, to then go and trust that He will do exactly what He said.  He invites us to be a part.

I graduated high school in 1983 and I turned 47 on October 7, 2012. My, how the years do fly past us! I’ve always been a reflective thinker. However, that part of me has really magnified with age.

There aren’t many people that truly impress me and I don’t mean that in a negative way. For the most part (myself included), we have our strengths, we have our weaknesses, we are human and we do the best we can. Then, there are those that step outside themselves to touch the world and I am in awe of their beauty.

In the 1980’s, I discovered a man by the name of Leo Buscaglia – a teacher, author and speaker, but mostly, a lover. He was a lover of God, a lover of his fellow man and a lover of love. Dr. Love, as he was known, passed away in 1998, but his message lives on. It lives in the hearts of people like me who remember and recognize his gift for reminding us that we are all members of the same family… the human race.

He actually taught a class at the college level titled, “Love 1A.” How wonderfully crazy is that?! The inspiration for the class was a young student of his that committed suicide. In the lecture hall, she was one of the “kind eyeballs” he looked to for reassurance that his message was being received. When he found that she’d taken her own life, he was inspired to teach on love, human connectedness and the meaning of life. I think Love 1A should be a required class.

While attending college myself, I was required to take Speech. This may be surprising to some as I can be very outgoing, but I am extremely shy. I hate being the center of attention and speaking in front of people is a living nightmare… my eyes water, my lips quiver and my voice shakes. Unfortunately and unavoidably, my personality and circumstances have often placed me directly in the center of attention.

However, I do know this about myself… if I’m speaking about something with a purpose, something I’m passionate about or believe in, my shyness usually disappears. So, in my college Speech class, I decided to speak about Leo. Yes, my eyes still watered, my lips still quivered and my voice still shook, but I received a B+. My teacher praised my effort and a fellow student came to me after delivering my speech and said it was the best speech given in our class.

It wasn’t a great speech and I know that. My teacher praised me, because she knew how hard I worked on the words and how hard it was for me to deliver them publicly. My fellow student said it was the best speech because of the message and how emotional I was about it.

His words remain close to me today as do my memories of the class I once took. He made a lasting impact.

“Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.”

- Leo Buscaglia

You touched my heart and my life. Thank you, Leo.

The Tuesday Spiritual Column is entirely the opinion of this week’s writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Northview Church as a whole.

The transition of the former St. Luke’s Shelter from a 7pm-to-7am shelter to a 24/7-accessible temporary residence has, in my eyes, been a tremendous blessing. Simultaneously addressing both the employment and housing needs of homeless men, it is a perfect example of the innovation and forward thinking in Friendship Place’s efforts to help our homeless neighbors regain their independence and rejoin the community as productive and self-sufficient members.

The successful transition of one St. Luke’s shelter resident into his own apartment, thanks to the teamwork of Friendship Place’s AimHire program & MMUMC.

With the partnership of Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church (MMUMC), which historically managed St. Luke’s Shelter, Friendship Place’s AimHire Job Placement Program successfully reshaped the shelter into a new model of transitional housing—one without the access restrictions that many shelters have. In this model, AimHire staff help each resident identify his own goals—getting a job, gaining confidence and stability, regaining independence and self-sufficiency—and then create an individualized action plan to pursue those goals and ultimately move into his own affordable permanent housing. AimHire staff assists all residents through daily meetings, employment services, and case management. Frequent one-on-one attention helps each resident quickly move through the process of regaining employment and working toward self-sufficiency.

These changes have generated overwhelming positive energy all around and extreme goodwill and gratitude from our residents. They appreciate being treated with dignity and respect, and they are thankful for the opportunity to succeed on their own merits.

Within the first two months, the results were spectacular! Four of our seven residents gained employment. One of the residents who gained employment moved into his very own apartment, where he is still extremely happy. He says that without the stability provided by St. Luke’s, Friendship Place, and MMUMC, he would not have been able to regain his independence and move on with his life. Two other residents have also identified apartments they will move into as soon as they save a little more money.

Even better news: The more efficient the St. Luke’s transitional housing model becomes, the more homeless residents we can help. Although we can’t add more beds in the facility, we can decrease the amount of time each resident lives there so that more residents can be served. The previous model envisioned that six residents, plus a paid shelter manager and staff, would stay in the shelter 6 to 9 months. Many did stay that long.

With the new St. Luke’s model, seven beds are available to our homeless population, and, because of the individual attention the residents receive and the focus on employment services, the amount of time residents need to stay before moving into permanent housing is reduced to 3 or 4 months. In fact, when our first resident successfully transitioned into his own apartment, the vacant bed was filled with another resident within 3 hours! We are hopeful that the stability that St. Luke’s Shelter will provide the new resident will allow him to save up enough money to move into his own place in 1 or 2 short months. 

Being a part of this process continues to be a truly gratifying experience. It’s wonderful and humbling to witness so many lives being improved one day at a time. I’m overjoyed to share this success with you all, and will continue to update our community on the progress at St. Luke’s.

The video uses current students, past students, parents and teachers. The participants speak directly to you. They engage you through the screen. They make the appeal personal to them and to you. Mr. Carrie, a Spanish teacher at the school, even chuckles that he likes and needs his job. The request for donations are tangible – for the heat, lights, books. And the video appeal is quick, maybe 3 minutes.

All these things by the way: being personal, being creative, being tangible, being donored centered and being quick are keys to effective thank yous as well. Actually, they are ways to thank donors so they’ll give more.

For me, it was a great trip down memory lane and made me think about how pivitol a role the school played in my development. This is pretty important because I have never given to the school before. I never really thought about continuing my support of the school – especially since I no longer live in the area and don’t have kids.

What do you think of the spot? How effective do you think the appeal is?

Take away: I’ve made a donation and will let you know if their thank you is as clever as their ask.

Sure, you are part of a greater network of non-profits with similar missions, constituents and geographical areas – but each organization is alone and unique. I’ve worked for large and small non-profits – international monoliths with over 1,000 employees and conduits of community action with only five. Each one has its own culture and each can seem isolated or insulated at times. Just like living on your own, it’s often easy to fall into bad habits.

As a singleton I try to keep my quirks as contained as possible. My biggest is eating dinner every night in my pjs on the couch from a bowl with a spoon. To counter this I have friends over for dinner or brunch every few weeks. It forces me to be social, but it is also a great treat for my friends and me. Something different from our daily routines.

Can you think of the organizational equivalent? Can you find a way to mix up the cultural “quirks” that sometimes get in the way?

I am a big believer in group meals. Barriers can be broken down over a slice of pizza and friendly dialogue. Don’t talk about work, talk about people’s lives and interests. Treat staff as individuals with hopes and dreams and talents – not deadlines, project goals and grant reports.

Take away: Changing bad habits takes time and effort, but little steps and good food go a long way.

I used to coordinate the appeal letters for a land trust. I remember carefully mail merging letters, response forms and envelopes. I remember too the army of volunteers needed for the week. My volunteers were wonderful and I let them know it. I’d bake treats and encourage lots of chit-chat as we stuffed envelopes. I’d also have them play Mass Mailing Bingo.

What is Mass Mailing Bingo? Well, really, it was a way to keep the volunteer’s attention to the job at hand. Bingo cards had spots for the crazy things all of us know pop up in our databases. People got points for finding:

• their letter
• a family member or neighbor’s letters
• the one woman with four last names
• the household on “Chuckleberry Lane”
• another volunteer in the room’s letter
• and so on

If volunteers knew someone they were encouraged to write a little note on the letter.

I had a winner each shift and they always got some kind of prize. My volunteer army loved stuffing envelopes and loved the organization more because their experiences were fun and personal. My thank you notes to the volunteers always referenced something that happened during their shift and thanked them for making the experience enjoyable and easy for me – something I truly appreciated.

Take away: Volunteers are often financial supporters of your organization. Make their experiences rewarding and their involvement will grow deeper roots.

Though you should be personal, relevant and donor centered in all forms of appreciation, I have illustrated how to use these three keys when writing thank you notes.

Personal

A form letter stating “thank you for your gift of $30.00″ with the standard IRS language at the bottom is necessary, but it isn’t an actual thank you – it’s a ticking off of a box.

A thank you is personal and sincere. Thank yous should make the reader feel good about what they have done because what they’ve done has made someone else feel good. Thank yous reinforce the feeling that the reader is part of something.

Relevant

Being relevant means directly acknowledging the donors gift in a timely manner. Thank yous show the connection between the gift and the impact.

Donor Centered

Being donor centered does not mean being sycophantic, that’s demeaning and won’t win you any support. Instead, put your donors in the center of your communications and your successes. Thank yous make readers feel as if their participation has made a lasting change in someone else’s life.

Notice how all three sound rather similar? That’s because they are…and that makes your life easier. Thanking a donor does not need to be time-consuming. Three lines written on a notecard takes five minutes tops, but will have a lasting impression on the person who receives it. If you make those three lines convey how the reader has been part of something, then you’ve succeeded in making their day. And making their day will make your mission successful.

Take away: Make donors feel as if they are a vital part of your organization, not just casual observers.

Non-profit marketing, on the other hand, is far too often focused solely on the pitch with splash thrown in as a poorly formed after thought. Your organization’s mission is to do good and to make a lasting change in the world. You want to be taken seriously as a credible, reliable, important player in the community – one that people will support through monetary and time donations. But you don’t need a lot of words to do that.

You can be splashy and credible. You need materials that get attention but also engage and the best way to achieve both is to have simple materials filled with sincere words. Show potential donors why their participation is important - to those in their community, to their own lives – and how their involvement will have a tangible, lasting impact – in their community, in their own lives. And do it with as few words as possible.

How do you relay all that you do and still keep it simple? I’d recommend focusing on the following three keys whenever you sit down to write:

1. Make it compelling. Why should the reader care and how does your organization connect with their interests?
2. Keep it concise. A great photo shows your work and provides you the opportunity to relay the heart of your organization with a few simple statements that drive the point home.
3. Be credible. Don’t overstate your mission or the impact you have. Your work should speak for itself.

Take-away: Make it believable and don’t overreach.

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