Keeping My Fire

Keeping My Fire-Lessons Learned « Entry Level Living 3 months ago on Wordpress

[...] November 5, 2009 ajlovesya Leave a comment Go to comments Last week I wrote about my current struggle in maintaining the passion that brought me to the sector. The comments and feedback have been wonderful and really pushed me to reflect more on what I do and [...]

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ATK 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

Great post. The couple of things that came to mind were: 1) If what you are doing isn’t connected to the mission, then you’re probably just wasting your donor’s money and should stop doing it. I work in one of those “dry” development jobs, but almost everything I do is directly connected and has a huge impact on the mission of my organization. I don’t raise money and resources: I help inspire executives to get involved; I help provide the funds that keep the organization going; we don’t do speaking engagements, we are building passion and support for our cause and the cause of our clients; I don’t write grants–I’m inviting foundations to take a hard look at an issue area and make a significant and impactful investment in our mission. I sit through tons of meetings that are pointless and don’t connect with the mission and passion–and so nothing happens. I forget about them–quickly, because there is plenty of legitimate, passionate work that has to be done. Seth Godin had a great post a while back: when someone asks you what you do, do you tell them your job title or how you help further your organization’s mission?

Second thing: You clearly know what you want to be doing–although some of the people who have commented here don’t sound quite that sure–so it will be easy for you to reconnect. I don’t always agree with Rosetta Thurman’s views, but I really do agree with her on this point: you are in charge of being where you want to be. If being on the marketing side of the organization isn’t your thing, then find a way to start getting back on the program side of the fence–take your marketing team and go spend a couple hours a week doing the program work and your marketing is likely to get better and be more relevant. I take several hours a week to make sure I’m speaking with our clients–to find out their issues, struggles, hopes and dreams–and I’m a better fundraiser for it because I can help my donors connect with the mission in more meaningful ways. I also agree with Rosetta that you will have to be a leader before you are “officially” recognized as a leader–if you have a valid point of view that connects with your donors, clients and staff and that helps keep you passionate then speak up. You might get shot down–and if you do, try and find out why: a turf war, is there something you can learn, or are you just learning what kind of leader you don’t want to become when you are in charge?

I appreciate the honesty of this post, but I can’t quite stop thinking that there’s not really a problem here. You know what you want, what you’re interested in, and what you want to be doing. It sounds like you’re throwing up a lot of things that are “pushing you away” from your dreams–are you being pushed away or are you walking?

Oh, and I’ve worked for profit–I even went and got my MBA. There are a lot of passionate people that work in that world, too, but this problem exists there just as much here. It isn’t the job. And I’ve rarely ever worked somewhere where people were maliciously trying to kill my passion and dreams–and even when I have worked for that person … she’s gone and I’m energized more than ever. ... See all content Hide content

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News Roundup: Indigenous Immigrants, Vacant Condos, etc. « Idealist in NYC 3 months, 1 week ago on Wordpress

[...] Keeping My Fire (Entry Level Living) [...]

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ajlovesya 3 months, 2 weeks ago on Wordpress

That’s so true–ups and downs are part of any job and perhaps Im just going through a down because I certainly have bursts of inspiration and motivation like when Im helping kids apply for high schools and colleges or raising money and handing out scholarships for families. It helps to keep stock of the opportunities that allow me to keep that passion. Thank you!

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ajlovesya 3 months, 2 weeks ago on Wordpress

Thanks for sharing and showing your commitment! I must say that surrounding myself with people who maintain their passion helps in maintaining mine.

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ajlovesya 3 months, 2 weeks ago on Wordpress

Not a problem! Glad to share and thank you for commenting !

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Rosetta Thurman 3 months, 2 weeks ago on Twitter

You must read this brutally honest piece by @ajlovesya: Keeping My Fire: http://bit.ly/1gB4Cb #nonprofit

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BonnieKoenig 3 months, 2 weeks ago on Twitter

It's not Friday, but @ajlovesya always inspires me and keeps us all thinking - Keeping My Fire: http://bit.ly/1gB4Cb

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zyozyfounder 3 months, 2 weeks ago on Twitter

thought provoking blog post by one of my FAVORITE millennial social entrepreneurs @ajlovesya http://is.gd/4EQJr #brighterway

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jameselbaor 3 months, 2 weeks ago on Twitter

Check out @ajlovesya 's new blog post for The Nonprofit Milleninal Bloggers Alliance. http://tinyurl.com/ykltnhl

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