Can We Have Your Money?

An old nonprofit tale that you may have heard before…

A community nonprofit organization realized that it had never received a donation from the city’s most successful lawyer. So a staff member did some research on the lawyer, and gave the information to a key volunteer.  The volunteer was able to get a meeting and visited the lawyer in his lavish office.

The volunteer opened the meeting by saying, “Our research shows that even though your annual income is over two million dollars, you don’t give a penny to charity. Wouldn’t you like to give something back to your community through our nonprofit?”

The Importance of Relationships

Re·la·tion·ship (noun) A connection, association or involvement. An emotional or other connection between people.

In nonprofits, relationships are everything. To achieve your mission, you need people. You need people who are willing to help you put in the effort to help you achieve your mission. You need people who are committed to donating their time to help you achieve your mission. You need people who are willing to invest their money to help you achieve your mission. You need a staff to help keep all the parts moving. Nonprofits must have relationships — connection, association, involvement. And you have to make it emotional to build a lasting relationship. These enduring, lasting relationships will make a difference in how your organization views the strategies needed to achieve your mission. Simply stated: nonprofits need people to succeed.

Getting to Know INK Consulting

Welcome to my blog! Let me introduce myself…

My name is Shannon Abitbol. I became connected to the nonprofit world several years ago when I started working for United Way of Snohomish County in Everett, WA. While I worked there, I was in charge of an initiative called “relationship management.” This initiative sought to overhaul the way the organization viewed the relationships that affected the mission — and we did just that.

Let’s pause for a second so that I can explain what “relationship management” is.