Can your cause be “solved”? Are you working on an issue that has a definitive solution toward which you direct your sails on a daily basis? Is your wildest dream to work yourself out of a job? Is your cause a destination?
Cause-As-Continuum
Odds are the answers to these questions are “no”. Whether you’re a non-profit crusader or Board member, work within a social enterprise or direct some of your company’s resources to a non-profit organization…it’s likely you’re working on a complex issue with many moving parts. And while the progress you make may address a component of that larger issue, chances are there’s another pressing need cued up right behind it. Your cause is a continuum.
How Much is Enough?
The cause-as-continuum provides a few challenges of which we should all be aware, particularly when engaging donors, volunteers and potential partners. Seth Godin penned a great post entitled Fear of Philanthropy in which he addressed this cause-as-continuum from a donation perspective and asked how potential donors know how much is enough. Without a ceiling (a framework for an attainable but challenging goal), Godin’s argument is that potential donors are likely to avert their eyes and walk away. This means you lose.
Extend this to anything you do in the cause realm. When your cause is a continuum, there will always be more to do – more disease to fight, more children to save, more contamination, corruption and injustice in the world to conquer. Why should anyone join you and fight the good fight, donate to your cause, volunteer or partner with your organization? It’s seemingly impossible to make a dent.
Create a Win
It comes down to creating a win for those would-be donors, partners and volunteers. And, more specifically, how you communicate what it means to win. How you create and then draw people into that winning story. Because we all need wins in life. If you’re providing a place where joining your movement enables people to win (and preferably regularly), your cause ultimately wins as you move one step further along the continuum.
What does it take to provide a win? Here are a few thoughts:
Provide Perspective: The simple recognition that your cause is a continuum (or a destination, if that’s the case) and the steps you’ve taken in the right direction is a powerful and important exercise in perspective. It’s easy to get wrapped up in day-to-day tasks and forget to lift your head up high enough to see the path you’ve paved along the way. Where was your effort a year ago? Five years ago? Be the cheerleader for your long-term successes. If the challenges you’re facing are larger than they were “back then”, it’s certainly an indication that you’re tackling larger and more complex issues. Acknowledge it.
Create Structure: Take a lesson from Seth Godin and provide a structure for the win. What does a win look like? How much is enough to donate/volunteer/contribute? One percent of your income? 10 hours a month? An annual partnership? We all want to do more with less but at the end of the day, almost everything boils down to a numbers game. If you’ve burned out your primary resources, be they staff, volunteers, donors or partners, you all lose. Set a challenging yet attainable ceiling and you may be surprised that the numbers game tilts in your favor. Provide a win and more people will want what you’re selling.
Write The Chapter: This is how you implement “Structure”. As people realize the importance of creating their personal story (read Stories Matter: What’s Yours?) they will inevitably look for chapters that fit into a vision for their life and legacy. Are you writing a chapter that people want to incorporate into their individual story? Is it compelling, challenging, attainable, meaningful? Can they see how their individual contribution will move the cause one step further along the continuum? Or have you written a chapter full of logistical ick without any chance of a win?
Wins don’t have to be huge milestones. Although we typically look toward externally focused achievements (partnerships formed, donations secured, grants won) for our wins, there are equally important (though admittedly not as sexy) internal milestones to acknowledge and celebrate (project tasks accomplished, volunteers trained, processes streamlined).
These are just a few ideas – what else can make working on your cause a “win”? Pick a way and add it to the comments below.
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Image credit to Lasse C.
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