A penny for your thoughts?

I made the first traffic light as the delivery truck pulled out of the way a few seconds before the yellow light. Then a second, a third light, and soon the thought of "lucky day" popped to mind. As I merged onto the interstate there was little traffic. It was odd for early morning. The sky seemed just a bit bluer, the clouds more crisply white. This felt like a lucky day.



I was driving to a meeting with Chad Vail the new Executive Director of Junior Achievement. I was on time. The meeting went well. We quickly worked our way through the introductions, the description of how young people benefit from Junior Achievement, and finally, dove deep into the heart of the matter: How do we energize the Board and step up the fundraising? A plan began to fall into place. Chad ended the conversation with a thank you and "now I remember why I fell in love with Junior Achievement in the first place...thanks for boosting me up...thanks for getting me excited again."

Wow, lucky day. My GPS system found a short-cut back to the interstate. I made another traffic light. I had an odd thought. I wondered what if everyone, everywhere, at that precise moment was having a "lucky day?" It is all about attitude, I thought. It felt like a lucky day because I noticed all the good things...the fluffy clouds, the traffic, the traffic lights. Not only that, my luck was contagious. Chad Vail now was having a good day too.

As I merged onto the interstate I saw two cars pulled over on the shoulder. "Looks like it just happened...an accident." the play-by-play commentator in my head said. As I passed by I saw out of the corner of my eye a man walking back from the car behind with his head in his hands. It was the perfect movie shot of a man in despair.

It is not all about attitude. Why do we let these little aphorisms drive our lives? "Attitude is everything" blames you for having a bad day...and lets you somehow take too much credit for the good days. It also blinds you to what those around you are going through.

I missed the next two traffic lights and felt good about it.

Lucky day, I thought, I just lived the perfect example of why getting out of your own head is so hard.

Perhaps I can turn that thought into an aphorism. Suggestions?


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What happens when you confuse members with donors.

He looked up from his papers and said that typically nonprofits generate about a third of their revenues from membership dues. "We need to start a membership program," he said. I asked, "What are the benefits of membership?" "Well, for one, you get to support our organization."  I sighed and thought "Well, at least this will be a good blog post."


If you are a member of a gym then you get to use the exercise equipment. You certainly do not think of yourself as helping the gym owner's kid go to college although you are doing that too. If you make a gift to a charity you feed the homeless, educate kids, help improve the neighborhood, etc., and you probably think that if you were to meet the Executive Director that they would at least recognize your name and perhaps give you a hearty hello. In short, you expect better service...just like if you are paying dues to a gym.

Do you see the problem?

So what is the difference between annual dues and an annual gift? Why do you feel self-satisfied about one and sorta guilty about the other. If paying annual dues makes you proud of yourself (hey, I am pulling my own weight around here) and annual gifts make you feel burdened (man, they really put the squeeze on me) then you are a member. If giving an annual gift makes you proud and paying annual dues make you feel obligated then you are a philanthropist.

Membership programs require member benefits. Annual giving programs require a touch of altruism. What are you expecting from your donors? Are you asking them for the right kind of gift?

If you are uncertain what you are asking for then I am almost certain that your member benefits are much too generous.  When organizations are not clear they tend to apologize for asking by laying the membership benefits on too thick.
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Strut Your Stuff

I have never been so nervous in my life. I am standing in front of a room with 40 sets of eyes staring, waiting for me to begin my presentation. But there is no PowerPoint and I am not in front of major donors trying to persuade them to do their charitable giving through the Foundation. I am reading a book for the Freedom School at Carolina Youth Development Center (CYDC).

Freedom School is a national program through the Children's Defense Fund, and the program at CYDC serves 50 North Charleston children for six weeks during the summer by boosting motivation to read and creating a more positive attitude around learning. This morning, like every morning, started off with a ritual called Harambee, Swahili for "let's pull together,” which is a 30 minute session of energetic dancing, motivational cheering, and children's books. I started tapping my foot to the first song of the day, but by the "Hallelujah Chorus," I was being strongly encouraged to sing along and learn the dance moves. I have to say that this version of Handel's Messiah's finale was much more fun to sing than the version I did back in my college days.

After the kids settled down, I was introduced as the reader for the day. Each day, a professional from the community reads a short story. The readers are from varying industries and all walks of life. My story was "She Who is Alone," a story about a Comanche orphan who makes a great sacrifice to save her village. When I finished, the children all thanked me, not by clapping, but by singing to me and asking me to "strut my stuff." The kids then sang a few more songs about looking people in the eyes and believing that they could achieve anything despite what others may say.

When I said goodbye, the real work started. The kids were broken up into groups to participate in intensive reading-related activities, as well as sports and team-building exercises, arts and crafts, and field trips. The hope is that the kids will start the school year at the same level of reading, or better, that they left with the previous year.

Too bad all our days don’t start with Harambee!
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Community-Based Grant Making Brings Parents of Special Needs Children Together

On Monday, July 12, the committee for the Charles Webb-Ed Croft Endowment met to review applications and make recommendations for this year’s Webb-Croft grant awards. This Endowment, established in 1994, provides money for organizations that help children with special needs and their families. Seventeen organizations were recommended for grants this year with a total of $69,800 being awarded. Recipients will be announced on July 28.

Part of the value of community-based grant making is that the committee members—each having a child or relative with special needs—are able to share their stories of challenges and rewards when having a loved one with special needs. Each member brought different ideas into the meeting and shared their experiences, knowledge, and solutions. Through this sharing, other committee members learned about organizations that help special needs children that they were previously unaware of and gained information that could help them support their own child.

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Remembering the Friends of Sullivans Island Schools

It could be a long time coming, but when people gather to successfully create change, the community eventually tells the story of those beginnings over and over again. For a fleeting moment when standing before the meeting of the Friends of Sullivans Islands Schools tonight I could see the story of their origins being told over and over again far into the future. The thought was fleeting because soon it was overwritten by the details of budgets, classroom renovations, and the incoming crop of students. The thought resurfaced later on the drive home.


Forty-eight years ago this month, Philip Hanvey, was killed in a tragic accident on Sullivans Island. Philip, then 18 years old and full of promise, was killed when the mast he was installing on a sailboat made contact with a high voltage line. Sam Hanvey, Philip's father, was a member of the Charleston Kiwanis Club. The passing of Philip Hanvey could have been just another tragedy had the Kiwanis club not decided to change that sad story into a permanent memorial. They created a scholarship fund that is now housed at Coastal Community Foundation. Today, each student that receives an award from the fund learns about Phillip and his great potential. They also read about the Kiwanis Club. Some of Philip's potential rubs off on them. Some of the hope of the Kiwanis Club rubs off on them too, perhaps more than today's Kiwanis Club members realize.

Tonight at the meeting of the Friends of Sullivans Island Schools I was struck by how the parents have rallied around the Sullivans Island Elementary and how they have sought to improve on what the Charleston County School District provides. The room was full of bright, charismatic leaders from all sorts of businesses; a printer, a restauranteer, a developer, a lawyer, a banker, among others. All have experienced success and momentary failures in their careers. All are now applying what they learned to the challenges facing the schools.

Just like for the Kiwanis Club and Philip Hanvey, the Friends of Sullivans Islands Schools have created a permanent endowment that one day will be their collective memorial. The interest earned by the fund will celebrate the great potential of children. The stories told about the fund will be stories about the origin of the "Friends" and the level of parental involvement in the schools.

Fifty years from now the children of the parents I saw tonight will be asking themselves deeply personal questions about their own charitable giving. When asked how they became involved in philanthropy many 60 year-olds have said to me "It was just something my parents did, they were involved, they were there when people needed them." In a like way, the children attending Sullivans Island Elementary today will remember that their mother served as a teachers aide one hour a week or that their father helped to organize school-wide social events. They will remember how engaged their parents were and think to themselves that they too should volunteer or give money. Afterall, it was just something their parents did.

Which would you remember most? That your classmates in elementary school were full of potential?...or that your mother or father or your entire hometown was there for you, gave up things for you, were, in short, philanthropists?

Which memory would you like to be a memory about you? Full of potential or full of charitable thoughts and deeds?

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Center Building Progress 6 28 10

The Coastal Community Foundation Center at 635 Rutledge Avenue is coming along. The concrete foundation has been poured and is being tested. Next week, steel delivery and the elevator walls will be erected.

Now we're talking.

To view other videos, visit our Foundation YouTube page. Read more!