[Mary R Snyder]

I hear you — that creeping self doubt can come when your plate is full and someone is offering you MORE ideas! I know that boards often feel their job is to generate ideas — it’s our job to let them know we need help.

Here’s something I’m doing with a client right now — Evaluation I call InspireMetrics. We developed categories that matter to them. They chose:

Brings in funds

Creates strong awareness that will lead to funding

Deepens donor relationships

Volunteer appreciation

Team building

Fun

And they are going through every donor development aspect and ranking them in these categories. Each area is ranked and we will review what needs more attention and what needs less.

This is a great way to showcase your work for you board. My thought is ‘if it’s not moving the needle’ then let’s evaluate if we need to do this.

Another idea for when a board member brings an ‘idea’ to the table– kindly ask “can you head up this project?” Let him/ her know that your focus is the health of the organization and that means you have to focus on what moves the needle with funding and the overall operation of the org

On to the self doubt and overwhelm. We all struggle with it. I know I do. But I want you to think about that big success last month or last year. Remember you did that! Don’t lose sight of your successes! You’ve got this!