It is not Magic

     It feels like 75% of my job is talking about Joel's Place in one way or another.  I speak at churches and meetings.  I talk with potential donors or volunteers.  I write grants...lots of grants.  I blog.  I write letters and proposals.  As I spread the word about our organization, I get into lots of conversations about who we are and what we do.  It being a small community, I get to answer lots of questions and dispel lots of rumors.

 

"Yes. We are faith based."

"No.  We are not a gang base."

"Yes. We do offer free meals to kids."

"No. We do not allow them to bungee jump off the roof."

     The most common questions that I get are about how our crew got out of our financial crisis this past year.  What is my secret for solving financial hardship?  What grant did I find or donor did I develop or incantation did I recite to pull us out of the hole?  There is good news and bad news:  It is not magic...it is process.

     The hole we were in was not going to be solved by any one thing.  There was no single grant, no single donation, no single program that would magically solve our problems.  Even if we won the Nenana Classic and had thousands of dollars dumped on us, that would merely be a temporary fix, not a long term cure.  Eventually we would end up in the same place again, looking for another miracle.  What we needed was a series of steps that methodically pointed us in the right direction.

• We needed an Accurate Assessment of where we were at.  How much money did we owe to whom?  How far behind were we on which payments?  How much revenue were we really generating? We needed to know where we stood in order to know where to go first.
• Clear Vision. This is the most valuable resource you can have as it dictates direction.  It is also the one that is hardest to achieve.  It is much easier to define what you do not want to be instead of what you do want to be.
• Hard Cuts.  There were some programs and positions that we loved that we had to let go. They were draining resources that we did not have and not lining up with our vision.
• Community.  It is impossible to overstate the importance of partners.  We had advocates, encouragers, donors, volunteers, family and friends that held us up.  Without our 400 partners, we would not exist, no matter how strong our vision or leadership is.
• Creativity in using our resources, especially our building usage. We looked at what we had and tried to figure out how to use it better.

Any one of those pieces by itself would not have been enough.  They all work together to help us achieve solid footing.  It is no surprise, really.  These pieces are the same ones that we utilize for personal development:

• Accurate Assessment.  Where are we at, really, and what do we need? 
• Clear Vision: Where are we headed?
• Hard Cuts: What do we have in our lives that draw resources away from our goal?
• Community: Fuels every aspect of this journey.
• Creativity: How do we use what we already possess in order to arrive in a new place?

Progress and transformation are not magic...they just take time and a few tools.