Greetings of the Season

Oh No! Facebook fan page rating plummets to One Star! (But number of fans more than doubles!)

Early in November, while on Facebook, I noticed that my Peak Performance Philanthropy fan page had attained a 5-star rating and a very high post quality score.

I proposed an experiment and promised to report back. The results are in.

The 5-stars rating has dropped to a measly 1-star. Why? Lack of interaction on the part of the fans. I guess the subsequent posts haven't been very engaging. Thus, the rolling 7-day average caused four of the stars to disappear.

What apparently created the "high post quality" score was a flurry of interactions in response to postings on Sesame Street and the election results in Maine. Over several days, there was an abundance of comments, likes, and wall postings. Together, they drove the quality score up to 112. Today, it's zero! On the chart at left, you can see several days' worth of interactions that elevated the post quality score ... preceded and followed by a flat-line. Not that I take this personally, but would it hurt you to click on like? Or jot a comment? Or even scrawl something on the wall?

What's really revealing is how few people need to do something to move the score. Less than eight people total "interacted" over a three day period to create the sky-high 112 quality score. Imagine if LOTS of people "interacted"?

Some of you did what I asked, and invited some of your friends to join the fan page. You can see the spike in total fan count that occurred just after the November 5 posting (in the red oval). That growth curve has continued at a slightly accelerated rate, so that, as of today, there are 64 fans of the page ... more than double what there were just 25 days ago!

So, not only was there an immediate bump in fan count ... but the "natural" growth was steeper after the experiment than before, perhaps attributable to the viral nature of social media. (Also, the fans are now from all over the world, including Canada, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. Before the experiment, you were all from the United States. Now, we have a multi-national audience!)

At this rate, there will be 100 fans by New Year's Day!

What's also interesting is to compare the makeup of the fan base, before the experiment (top chart as of 11/4) and after (bottom chart as of today). Or maybe it's not all that interesting, because the percentages didn't change all that much. Still slightly more male (53%) than female (45%).

Age-wise: not a striking change here either, but there's been a swing toward older fans.

Age 25-44:
Before, was 52%, now only 41%.

Age 45+:
Before, was 44%; now 56%.

So, what does this all mean? Beats me. What do you think?

And, if you're so inclined, I also invite you to visit the Peak Performance Philanthropy fan page (click here). Click on Suggest to Friends, carefully select some friends who might be interested in how people experience the joy of giving to their favorite causes (plus a smattering of other stuff with dubious relevance). In other words, invite some of your friends to become fans of this page.

My take-aways:

• I need to post more frequently.
• The posts need to be more relevant to your interests.

Let's see where this takes us.

Celebrate the National Day of Listening on November 27, 2009

On Friday (that is, the day after Thanksgiving), each of us is encouraged to spend an hour recording interviews with loved ones, and preserve them for generations to come.

It's called the National Day of Listening -- friends and family are likely to be together and able to spend an hour honoring one another by listening. What a great idea to take time to tell people that their lives matter and that they won’t ever be forgotten. Interview a loved one or a community member whom you would like to honor—your grandfather, your aunt, a neighbor, a mentor, a veteran, or an old friend.

What a great gift to the future -- passing on a loved one's story to those who are too young (or not yet born!) to ask for themselves.

There's a complete do-it-yourself guide that details how to choose who to interview, prepare for the interview by creating a list of questions, and then record and save the interview. Here are just a few examples of questions:

• What was the happiest moment of your life?


• What are you most proud of?


• What are the most important lessons you've learned in life?


• What is your earliest memory?


• How would you like to be remembered?

There are dozens of great questions like these on the site. Some are especially designed by relationship (grandparents, parents, spouse/partner, siblings, friends, older community members); others cover various life stages and personal topics (growing up, working, religion, love and relationships, school, marriage, raising children, serious illness, family heritage, war).

Here's a video that describes the process:



The National Day of Listening is a project of StoryCorps and its partners: NPR, the American Library Association, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Corporation for National and Community Service/Americorps.

Great Stewardship from DonorsChoose

I just got an "impact report" today from a school teacher in Oakland.

Back in April, I went to DonorsChoose.org, an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need. Here's how it works:

1. Public school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests. The requests range from pencils for a poetry writing unit, to violins for a school recital, to microscope slides for a biology class.

2. You go to their site and browse project requests. The project is described by the teacher, but also shows detailed cost breakdown of exactly how the money will be spent. (I chose to help a reading intervention teacher in Oakland, California, who wanted to help fourth and fifth grade students get up to grade level at their Title I school. By reading parts of the books aloud, she found, the students are eager to actually read the books for themselves. Her students needed eight books in U.S. history content:

• Longest Journey: The Story of the Donner Party
• Cowboy Marc
• Gold Fever!: Tales from the California Gold Rush
• The Dirty Thirties
• From Slave to Cowboy: The Nat Love Story
• Birmingham 1963
• Cherokee Rose: The Trail of Tears
• The Story of Jamestown

The cost of this proposal was $161, which included a very reasonable fulfillment fee to DonorsChoose.)

3. Find the project that makes your eye twinkle and evokes a good feeling in your heart; give any amount. You can browse and search by city/state, grade level, subject area, teacher type, cost and/or by keyword. You can screen for projects that are close to their goal, located in an economically challenged area, have matching gift offers and by resource type such as books vs. technology vs. supplies vs. field trips or guest speakers.

(I gave an very modest sum, as I was out of work at the time. Within a day, I received a personalized thank you email from the teacher -- not an auto-generated thank you but one that referenced the remarks that accompanied my gift. Impressive!)

4. Once a project reaches its funding goal, DonorsChoose orders and delivers the materials to the school. (In my case, the teacher posted the project on February 28. It took seven donors, acting together, to reach the goal within a few weeks.)

5. Then, you get photos of your project taking place, a thank-you letter from the teacher, and a cost report showing how each dollar was spent.

If you give over $100, you'll also receive hand-written thank-you letters from the students -- a nice touch, for sure. But what's even better from my point of view is that you can give as little as $1 and get the same level of choice, transparency, and feedback that is traditionally reserved for someone who gives far more. They call it citizen philanthropy.

(Quite frankly, I'd forgotten that I'd even made that small gift back in April. But today, when I received the progress report, I was re-engaged all over again. I read the post-project thank you from the teacher. I saw the pictures of fourth and fifth grade kids reading the books I helped to buy. I reviewed the Live Update sequential stream of interactions, including notes from other donors sharing why they chose this project, with the teacher's personal thank you sent to each person contemporaneously. I felt a little sense of community around these like-minded people, strangers to each other who chipped in to make a little difference.)

Did the feedback make me feel good? Yes. Did the thank you reinforce that I'd made a good decision in making the gift? Absolutely. Was I prompted to go looking for another project to support? Of course I did.

The DonorsChoose business model is an exceptionally well-designed example of how technology can be used by a charity to actually personalize the giving process. I gave a modest gift. But I know more about the recipient, have had more interaction with her, and received a report to reinforce my choice ... far higher quality and quantity interaction than I've gotten from faceless organizations to whom I've made far larger gifts without so much as a thank you. Kudos to them.

By the way, if you're a teacher who has a project that needs to be funded, you can go here.

When you are laid off or involuntarily separated

One year ago today, I took the shuttle from a White Plains, NY hotel to the headquarters office of the health charity where I worked -- day one of a four-day road trip, away from my Emeryville, California office. I walked into my boss' office at 8:30 a.m. to discuss an upcoming planning retreat.

By 8:45 a.m., I was no longer employed. I was unceremoniously escorted to my remote office. I turned over the laptop, cellphone, keys, credit card, and ID badge. I was closely watched as I packed a few personal possessions in a box. My briefcase was searched. And then I was escorted out of the building, returned to the hotel to checkout and pick up my luggage, and then was driven to the airport and put on a plane back home.

In retrospect, I could have (should have) seen it coming. But it came as a complete and utter shock. One moment, employed. The next, unemployed. I had been continuously employed for 28 years. And in the blink of an eye, I had no idea how I would earn a livelihood. Worse, I was totally unprepared for a transition.

Here's some advice to everyone who is employed about how to be prepared for the (unlikely?) event of an involuntary separation. Think of it like an earthquake preparedness kit ... you hope you never need to use it, but it gives you peace of mind when you've done these things:

• Keep your resume updated. (I hadn't touched mine since 2001, and it wasn't easy to reconstruct, especially since I could no longer refer to source documents.)


• Keep copies (safely, at home) of the following:

1. Your job description


2. Your performance evaluations (These usually contain valuable, high-level data about what you did. And, if you work for a firm that refuses to give references aside from confirming employment dates, these might be the only evidence you can show to someone that you were well thought of at the company before you were cut loose.)


3. A printed directory of your Outlook contacts. (How will you be able to reach out to your network of family, friends, professional and social connections if your only copy of their names, addresses, emails, and phone numbers are snatched from you moments after being told you no longer work there? Better yet, occassionally export your address book and import it elsewhere (a gmail or ymail account maintained solely for "just in case). And don't think that a service like LinkedIn serves this purpose. It doesn't. Without my Outlook and cellphone, I couldn't contact my housekeeper, my best friend from high school, the gardener, or even my mother-in-law!


4. At least a few work samples


5. Summary reports containing dashboard-level key metrics


6. User names and passwords for online accounts, plus URL's for blogs and online newsletters you subscribe to.

• I'm not saying you should stash away sensitive or confidential materials that rightfully belong to the company you might leave one day. For example, in the context of a charity, I'm not suggesting you keep detailed donor or accounting records. But when the day comes that you are escorted out involuntarily, you won't be given any opportunity to take anything with you. I'd been there for seven years. Suddenly, I couldn't produce a shred of documentation showing what I'd done. How much money was I responsible for raising? What results did I produce? Were 2007 results an improvement over 2006? And was 2008 better than 2007? Can I demonstrate my ability to create products (training outlines, example handouts) or establish business processes (software documentation, manuals, or standard procedures)? Can I prove to someone that I possess writing skills (a brochure, a grant proposal, a fund-raising letter)?


• Finally, set some money aside for living expenses. Otherwise, you risk tumultuous consequences (perhaps selling your home, dramatically cutting back on lifestyle, raiding funds intended for retirement). Yeah. I know -- you're not really going to do that.

That's my advice to be prepared. It's what I suggest you do while you still have a job. It's practical.

None of this takes into account the emotional aftermath of being let go ... the anger, the dread, the tears, the blame and self-blame, the shaken confidence, the fear. I have no real advice on how to deal with that, other than to say, give yourself exactly one day to lay in bed with the covers pulled over your head. Feel as sorry for yourself as you want for 24 hours. Then, get up, dust yourself off, realize that the past is past - you used to work there, now you don't. Time now to look forward and move on. Start reaching out. Start working your network. Start looking for the next-right-thing.

Now, one year later, I recognize that leaving that job was a very good thing for me. I had to confront the realities of the compromises I'd been making, settling for a different set of circumstances than I'd bargained for. Believing it was better to persevere rather than give up, I probably stayed in the position too long. When I touch base with "the survivors," I realize (recall?) that it is not a happy place to work. The separation forced me to think through what I really aspired to, and how the rest of my career would go. I've created a new practice under the brand Peak Performance Philanthropy, and provide coaching, consultation and training to organizations, helping them to understand how to help people experience the joy of giving to their cause. Life is good. But the transition would have been ever-so-much easier if I'd known then what I know now. Keep a back-up of important high-level stuff -- just to be on the safe side.

5 Star rating of Post Quality on Facebook ... Cool!

I've got the greatest fans on Facebook! Checked in today to the Peak Performance Philanthropy fan page and saw this 5 Star rating of my post quality.

When one's fans choose to interact with posted material by commenting, liking, or writing on your Wall, it has the effect of spreading the content virally throughout Facebook (because their comments, likes, and wall scrawls show up in their News Feed that their friends see).

Apparently, "Post Quality" is determined by the percentage of fans that engage when content is posted to a fan page. It is calculated on a rolling seven-day basis.

The number of stars depends on how your Post Quality compares to similar Pages (that is, Pages that have a similar number of fans). I don't know how many stars one can get, but five seems like a great number, and I'm thrilled with that. And I'm not sure what 112 points means, but I know a lot of people with IQs that are lower, so I'm not complaining about that either.

On the scarier side, there's the question of how much Facebook knows about you. Yeah, the era of privacy is probably long gone. But here's just a snippet of the info Facebook can feed back to me about my fans. In the aggregate, I guess it's harmless enough. But, of course, Facebook has the actual details.

So, I love you men (56%) and women (44%); youngish (24% 18-34 years) and less-youngish (44% 45+) ... fans all!

Let's play a game. Invite some of your friends to join the page to see how the numbers shift. Just click on Suggest to Friends in the upper left corner of the fanpage. Will my Star rating plummet or soar? Will I attract more men or women? Will the age makeup skew; if so, which way? I'll report back in about a week's time.

Playing with social media to see how it works is fun. (Also a sign that I don't have enough to do!)

Click here to go to my fanpage and suggest to your friends that they join. Thanks!

Sad day for marriage equality. But now I'm moving on to the next skirmish.

So the people of Maine have voted. And 53% get to take away the civil liberties of a minority.

Deja vu, all over again. In October 2008, my husband and I got married. We had made huge (for us) contributions to the No on 8 campaign. I worked my heart out as a volunteer on that one -- can't even guess how many phone calls I made. Then, it was just a year ago today that we went to the polls in California. Election day was spent staffing a "get-out-the-vote" hub. Woke up the next morning to find that Prop 8 passed, also with a slim majority.

I remember the hurt. I remember the tears. I remember the anger.

And today, I feel it all over again.

Last year, the election results awakened me, motivated me to become much more involved in my community at an unprecedented level. The results from Maine simply reinvigorate that commitment.

I still do not understand how equality can be put to a popular vote. The majority MUST not define the rights of a minority. That's the real outrage. Time after time, my rights and full equality under the law are being put to a popular vote.

Now the fault-finding and finger-pointing will begin. Sure, I'm filled with anger at the National Organization for Marriage and the Catholic church. And at a President who could have said something and didn't. But hold on a minute.

Based on the numbers, voters at the polls in Maine voted against their gay family and friends. How? Why? Is it really possible that all of those people voted to strip rights away from LGBT friends? Could they really have voted against people they love? I can't believe that.

I believe that, when people know us, it's far more difficult to vote against us. Which is why my own community -- despite the temptation of blaming others -- really needs to examine itself. Harvey Milk told us years ago: "Come out, come out, wherever you are." We’re a community; we need to act more like a community. Until we really start caring about what happens to each and every one of us, nothing will change for any of us.

We need to continue to reach out so that real people get to know the real us. Now is not the time to fight hate with hate. Hearts and minds are changed through honest, heartfelt discussion. I believe this. I must believe this.

It's time to reveal ourselves as the love-filled people we are. Let them know us. One-by-one. Face-to-face.

Yes, hurt, tearful, and angered. And the fight will go on.

Sesame Street 40th Anniversary!

Can it be forty years!? Google says the day is today (Wednesday, November 4). I thought it was later. Either way, it's been forty years since its premiere broadcast, and Sesame Street will kick-off its landmark 40th season on PBS next Tuesday, November 10.

How great is that? I remember when it came on the air. I was a high school senior, and already interested in radio and TV as a career. I already loved Jim Henson's Muppets from previous incarnations. He was my hero. (I was into puppetry as a child -- another story for another time.)

And then came Big Bird, Oscar, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Bert and Ernie, and all the rest. And Kermit! (How did I forget Kermit?) Each day was a whole new set of adventures, fast-paced animation, lessons, catchy songs, games and sketches.

Even though I was decidedly not part of the target audience, I was enamored. I knew that this was quality. This was meaningful. This was going to make an impact.

And it did, in so many ways. It affected the way we think about education, childhood development and cultural diversity, to name a few.

Back in the day, kids were glued to the sets, hypnotised by test patterns! Bozo the Clown and Romper Room kept us pretty mindlessly entertained in the fifties and sixties. The idea that toddlers could learn was, well, new and untested. TV largely ignored preschool children's intellect, probably reflecting the larger society which pretty much did the same.

During that first season, they tried to show that kids could count to ten. Seems incredibly simplistic now. Soon, it was clear that two and three year olds could learn to count to twenty. (Nowadays, the counting goes all the way to 100!)

When those preschoolers started showing up in Kindergarten already knowing their letters and numbers, their teachers had to change. Much of the reform we've seen in education can (arguably) be traced back in part to Sesame Street's impact. As one of the most researched shows on television, studies on Sesame Street have shown its positive effects on reading and achievement last through high school.

But the bigger impact was made through its quiet activism. It always targeted urban, lower-socio-economic kids. From the beginning, it showed kids of different races living together. And the African American kids were shown as equals to the white kids. This didn't go over real well in some parts of the South, but it also challenged the "norm" throughout America.

It's shocking that Nielsen tells us that Sesame Street ranks only 15th among the top children's shows on the air. Today's tots are more likely to recognize Dora or SpongeBob than Big Bird or Cookie Monster. They used to create 130 new episodes a year; now, only 26 each season. This is the most important children's TV program ever (with apologies to Captain Kangaroo and Mister Rogers). It would be truly sad if it fell off of the cultural landscape.

Just as a tip-of-the-hat to Sesame Street, I invite you to watch a video of "outtakes" where comedian Ricky Gervais interviews Muppet Elmo. Not quite appropriate for pre-schoolers, but good fun anyway.



This posting has been brought to you by the letter P and the number 5 and number 9.

Brand name power: Motorized DWI chair for sale on eBay (but it's not a La-Z-Boy!)

OK, now, this is just plain weird.

A Minnesota man pleaded guilty for driving while intoxicated in a recliner.

The man who built the machine, Dennis Anderson, 61, was driving it from one bar to another in late August in Proctor, MN. He hit a parked car while in the chair, and he then tested .29% on a breath alcohol test. He was arrested for DWI and sentenced to 180 days in jail when he pleaded guilty.

The jail time was stayed providing for a 2 year probationary period, but Anderson forfeited his chair and forked over $2,000 to the state in fines.

The chair is a traditional recliner, but it includes a converted gas-powered lawnmower engine. The engine is connected to a steering wheel, and the chair is also outfitted with headlights, roll bars, a stereo and cup holders. The chair is reported to run about 20 miles per hour at full throttle. But, to fully disclose its condition, I must share that the seat cushion is missing.

Apparently having no internal use for the vehicle, the Proctor police department put the chair/vehicle on eBay for auction, calling the item the DWI La-Z-Boy. The closing bid on Friday was $37,300. Sadly for the police, the La-Z-Boy people invoked their VERO (VErified Rights of Ownership) with eBay, which pulled the item for inappropriately using the La-Z-Boy name.

Exhibiting remarkable perseverance, the Proctor police have re-posted the recliner without the La-Z-Boy name. As of the date/time this posting was made, 45 bids had been placed with just 2 days and 4 hours left to bid. At the moment, the current bid is only $5,800, which just goes to show the power of a good brand name!

If you want to place a bid, go here.

Now, don't you think you've squandered about as much time as you can afford on this? No??

Well, then, waste just a bit more by watching the video below.



Did I mention that the chair's builder/former owner is now selling autographer photos of him sitting in the chair on eBay? Is this the greatest country in the world, or what?!

How to ask for a gift ....

Here's a video snippet from the HBO show, Entourage. Matt Damon and Bono are featured as they ask Vince (played by Adrian Grenier) to make a gift to their favorite cause (a children's hunger charity).

Now I wouldn't actually suggest you ask the way Matt Damon does here, but there are some lessons embedded in the video.

Among them:

• Total absence of call reluctance (since he believes in his cause, Matt Damon asks everyone!)


• Asking for involvement in addition to monetary support


• Persistence and the importance of follow-up


• Importance of making your own gift first (because donors, even if they don't ask, will KNOW in their gut whether you've done your part)


• Framing the ask amount in relation to capacity and what other leadership donors have given


• Ask as part of a team, in person (see how much more effective the ask gets when LeBron James joins Matt in the ask)


• How to make it past gate-keepers ("He Jason Bourne-d me!")


• Linking back to the cause when making the ask ("it's for the kids!")

Warning: Some crude language here. Click here to watch.

Earthquake in San Francisco Bay Area, 1989, Remembered

Twenty years. It actually doesn't seem all that long ago. Or maybe it does.

It was a Monday. It was a red-letter day for me. I was promoted to a VP position in charge of all fund-raising for the American Heart Association in California. And my boss was sending me later in the week to an American Management Association course on leadership (which was huge in a corporate culture that self-importantly leaned toward in-house training).

I was working in Burlingame, just south of the SFO Airport and maybe ten miles from Candlestick Park. I was sitting at my desk, listening to a voicemail, a congratulatory message, as I recall. It was just after 5:00 p.m. The third game of the "Battle of the Bay" 1989 World Series -- with the SF Giants playing the Oakland A's -- was just underway.

And the earth moved! Boy, did it move! I got up from my desk to move to the doorframe, where I saw my office neighbor Kent had done the same. Inexplicably, I was still holding the phone (never one to let an earthquake interrupt the message I was listening to!), though moments later, the phone went dead. Chandeliers were swaying back and forth; file drawers slid in and out of their cabinet. It seemed to last forever. Actually, it was only 15 seconds.

When things settled down, we walked downstairs and outside to check on things. Across the street was the Amfac Hotel, 12 stories as I recall.
But the top couple of stories of the center tower were crumpled in at a twisted angle, and water was shooting up maybe 30 to 40 feet in the air, as though someone was standing on the roof, aiming a fire hose straight up. Dozens (hundreds?) of people were streaming out of the hotel's exits.

That's when I knew this was a BIG earthquake.

The parking lot at my office became a makeshift emergency headquarters, with ambulances and police vehicles swarming around the scene. About an hour later, my car was no longer blocked in the lot, so I could leave to go home, about a 15 mile trip back into San Francisco, where we lived in a flat in the West Portal neighborhood. The power was out as were the traffic signals. Volunteers tried to direct traffic, and drivers seemed to exercise appropriate caution. By the time I got home, it was pretty dark. Feeling my way through the darkened space, I found pictures fallen off the wall and bookcases that "walked" about a foot from their usual spot, but overall, not very much damage.

Kevin had been at school in Walnut Creek in the East Bay. The Bay Bridge was, of course, closed -- and would be for several weeks after. So, instead of a 34 mile trip that usually took 45 minutes, he had to go south almost all the way to San Jose and back up to SF, a 90+ mile trip that took him about three hours.

In Oakland, the collapse of the Nimitz Freeway, where about a one-mile section of the top deck buckled and fell, would become an indelible image of quake. Only later would we find out that a friend of ours, Cathy Scarpa, had been in the front seat of the UCSF-furnished vanpool vehicle. There were eight people in the van.

The van had gone airborne off the broken upper deck, then slammed head-on into part of the structure before dropping into the rubble of the double-deck structure. Cathy's head had gone through the windshield; her legs were jammed up into the engine. The impact had severed her seat from the floor.

Five people in the van were killed. Cathy, miraculously, lived. She had head injuries, her legs and feet had been badly broken, her liver lacerated and her right arm cut to the bone.She was in and out of the hospital for nine months and endured at least 20 surgeries related to the crash.

The toll: 63 dead, 42 of them on the Nimitz.

So much has changed in these twenty years. The Bay Bridge is still in the process of being retro-fitted. The Nimitz Freeway has been replaced. As part of my 29 year non-profit career, I've been a "fund raiser" for exactly twenty years, as of October 17. Learned so much, it seems much longer than twenty years ago. Kevin and I now live in Oakland. Cathy Scarpa now lives in Grass Valley with her partner Kay, miles away from the Bay Area. Who can blame her?

Below is a brief collection of live footage captured during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake in San Francisco, which was created by the U.S. Geological Survey. It might be unsettling, but it isn't gory, or anything. It reminds me I need to be better prepared for the "Big One."

USA TODAY launches online community, "Kindness: New Ways We Give and Volunteer"

We could joke and call it Philanthropy-Light. Or Giving-Digest. But our nation's top-selling newspaper has launched its newest online community, and its theme is charity, good causes, giving, and giving back.

No small audience: the print and online editions of USA TODAY reach more than 5 million a day. Here's how they're positioning the online community:

Kindness is your daily source of inspiration and guide to making a difference in fresh and exciting ways, no matter where you are. Each day, this site will unearth unique stories of giving with exclusive interviews, fresh takes on news stories, plenty of tips, and links to interesting resources. But we're also building a community, and we look forward to hearing from you.

The community can be found here. You can see a lot there, but of course, you have to register and all that to participate in commenting, connecting, blogging, posting in (or creating) forums ... the usual social networking stuff. But it's all under the USA TODAY brand. No doubt there will be an on-going promotion of it. Who knows? Maybe it will become a generalized philanthropy portal for those who are interested, attracting donors and organizations alike.

(USA TODAY also published its third annual philanthropy section in the newspaper, entitled "Sharing in the USA.")

Marriage Equality: One Year Later

One year ago this weekend, I was married to my partner of 23 years. I'm celebrating this first anniversary, feeling joy, anger, disappointment, and hope.

Joy, because I am married to a wonderful man with so much love to share.

Anger, because of last year's Prop 8 election result, and the California Supreme Court's subsequent upholding of the stripping away of a right from a group, because a slim majority of the public wanted it so.

Disappointment, because while I am still legally married (the Court didn't nullify my marriage), I feel a bit like a freed slave. I have my rights, but my brothers and sisters in my community don't have theirs.

And hope. Hope, because today is Coming Out Day and tomorrow, thousands will march in Washington and elsewhere, for equality ... demanding equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states.

If you want to see what a gay wedding looks like (well, my gay wedding anyway), click on the video links below.


Part 1 is the ceremony.


Part 2 is the reception.

Moving and ordinary at the same time. I've been married one year as of Sunday, October 11. And the world hasn't wobbled off of its axis. The sanctity, validity, and meaning of hetero-marriages in California weren't threatened by my marriage.

Glad to celebrate. Sad that others don't have the same right.

Equal protection, as guaranteed under the 14th Amendment. We will accept no less and will work until it is achieved. We should not have to beg or bargain for the right to work our jobs and go to school free of harassment and discrimination, the right to safety in our daily lives, the right to equitable healthcare, the right to marry, and the right to serve in the military openly.

Customer Service Week, October 5-9

In 1992 the U.S. Congress proclaimed Customer Service Week a nationally recognized event, celebrated annually during the first full week in October.

Of course, this makes about as much sense as having a seperate Customer Service Department. EVERY week should be Customer Service Week, just as responsibility for customer service should rest with everyone in your organization, not just one department. For your organization, providing really great customer service can be THE difference between thriving and going extinct.

There are lots of ways to encourage a culture of service in your organization. Ways that won't work include:

Writing a memo
Making a speech
Imposing new behavior standards ("Smile, dammit!")

Genuine change happens when people buy in. A way to start that is to have a simple conversation about it.

So on this occasion, let me offer you something for free. Here's an exercise to help you get the conversation started. Use it at your next staff meeting, or even in the lunch room.

There's two pages of quotes about customer service, meeting needs, reputation, and trust(they're all related, you know). Have people read through the quotes and then, in pairs or small groups, share which one they most responded to. I can almost guarantee an enthusiastic conversation will ensue, and perhaps some altered notions about who is responsible for keeping the customer.

Get your free copy: simply click here to sign up. Give me your name and email, and I'll send you the exercise right away.

And remember what Lewis Carol said:

One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really
worth doing is what we do for others.

100 Days Left In 2009

Yesterday, the autumnal equinox arrived. The Earth on its tilted axis was at the point where day and night were precisely the same length at the equator. In no time at all, it will be the winter solstice, the longest day of the year.

Between now and then, lots will happen. The passage of time through the seasons allows us to mark progress and take note of things that have changed. As autumn arrives, we're mostly in back-to-school mode, with thoughts of football and turning leaves. In December we'll be in the midst of holiday frenzy and the countdown toward a new year. The next three months, inevitably, is a busy time of the year.

Earlier this year, in January, you probably made some resolutions to yourself. Today, with just 100 days left in 2009, you might find yourself with unmet goals and unfulfilled promises.

Right now, you have the opportunity to close out the year like a winner. The question I'd ask is whether, 100 days from now, you will have accomplished what you wanted ... or if you'll just have been so "busy" that you'll wonder where the time went.

Every day, of course, is a moment of choice. But today, with 100 days left in 2009, is a highlighted moment of choice. My advice: Pick one mid-range target -- something significant that's important to you, a personal breakthrough that can be accomplished in 3 months.

Commit now to focusing on that outcome with discipline. Break it down to smaller pieces, bite-sized chunks you can work on day-by-day. Keep this target clearly in mind, and work on it regularly, each day if possible. Think of how you'll feel when the target is reached, the mission accomplished.

Today, you are facing an awesome opportunity to finish the year strong. If you stay motivated and focused, then your challenging target will be reached by December 21 (90 days from now) ... or at least by December 31, and you'll close out the year like a winner. Then, you can make another resolution for 2010.

Big Shout Out to Our Friends in Cyberspace

It's gratifying when people read your blog. It really is. Sometimes, one wonders: "Is anybody out there?"

Well, recently, traffic has been really picking up. In just the last 24 hours, look who has dropped by!

In California, visitors came from Cypress, Irvine, Los Angeles, Oakley, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Leandro and Vacaville.

From elsewhere in the US, people visited from Atlanta, Brooklyn, Buffalo Grove, Canton, Cheshire, Chicago, Dallas, Duncanville, East Longmeadow, Fairport, Glendale, Greenbrier, Houston, Jacksonville, Kissimmee, Louisville, Lyndhurst, Manhattan (the one in Kansas), Milwaukee, Mohawk, New York, Pella, Plano, Portland, Provo, Raleigh, Richmond, Seattle, Syracuse, Troy, Washington, DC and Yonkers.

Then there are the globetrotters who stopped by from Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Netherlands, and Switzerland.

All in the last day. Whew. I hope you found something useful here.

Isn't the World Wide Web wonderful?

Cool News for (non-profit) YouTube Users: Annotations and External Links!

I've refrained from doing a lot of posting on social media. For one, even though I'm a long time user of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, et.al., other people know more than I, especially about the nuts and bolts. For another, I don't want to do "me too" postings, joining the landslide of commentators and advice givers, immitating and repeating essentially the same old stuff.

But THIS is news. In fact, if you haven't already put up whatever video your organization has on YouTube, then now is the time to explore that. The last possible "excuse" is gone!

Michael Hoffman of See3 Communications explains the new, special YouTube Annotations functionality available only to organizations that are part of YouTube's Nonprofit Program. With this new functionality, you can create "buttons" inside the video player that allow your viewers to connect to an external page---your website, your donation page, a petition, a call to action, anything!

Annotation has been around for awhile, but they always had to link to another YouTube video. This is the FIRST TIME that YouTube has allowed traffic to be directed away from its site. Watch ...



Cool, right? Well, there's maybe ONE excuse remaining:

"I don't know where to start."
Then check out Gear Up for Giving, a series of tutorials, to help nonprofits and their supporters understand how to use key tools and techniques to create awareness, catalyze civic action and cultivate new supporters and donors for their causes. Watch this introductory video to learn more about social media. Then, go to Case Foundation for further information.



Kudos to YouTube and Case Foundation.

Personal blindspots: Doing what's in front of me to do, NOW

Confession time: There is part of me that LIKES complicated. The first time I heard about the KISS principle (the acronym meaning "Keep It Simple Stupid"), I HATED the idea.

I mean, I do get it in concept. Even I don't want to get bogged down in detail, or pursue the rabbit trail toward needless complexity.

But we've got a complicated world to deal with. It moves fast, and we try to tame it by creating process to codify and standardize.

My temperment naturally tips toward complicated over simple. Give me the chance, and I'll tend to create a flowchart or multi-step approach to address the most basic issues. But time and again, I'm reminded ... often painfully ... that simple and direct is better.

And it's taken me years to understand why that is.

Too often, my first impulse is to create a new system, invent a new rule, form a new standard. Too often that urge is, in reality, a ... (wait, I'm about to get the words out): ... a delaying tactic. There, I've said it.

For example, now is the right time to approach a likely supporter and say:

We're working on an issue/problem you care about. Here's how we approach our top priorities. Will you join in our cause?

Instead I'm tempted to say "a little more research is needed," "let's do one more cultivation move," or "today might not be the best time so let's wait for a few weeks."

Over the years, I've taught myself to catch myself doing this, and I usually do. Long ago I pledged that I would attend no more meetings with prospects where, at the end, the prospect is left to wonder "why didn't they ask?"

But my personal blindspot becomes glaring when I see it manifested in others. (Isn't that always the way?)

So ...

One of the best values I offer to others in my consulting is to be hyper-sensitive to delaying tactics, no matter how cleverly disguised or manifested. I'm always pressing to get people to admit that the time is now. My magic question: "What is it that we need to know about this person's ability or interests or motivation, that can be known, before we can make the ask?" Almost always, their answer: "Nothing." The inescapable conclusion: it is time to ask.

It sounds obvious.

But, clever procrastinators that we are, we can almost always find an expert reference from "the book" that says that we should cultivate before asking. So it always seems easier to cultivate, cultivate, cultivate, cultivate ad nauseum.

After stripping away all the excuses, we're left with a classic case of call reluctance. Get over it!

Too many opportunities are missed because we get wrapped up in procedures that we've created as stalling tactics in the name of building relationship. And then we fail to recognize that the moment is right. Done right, asking for the gift is the BEST way to build relationship. 99 times out of 100, the time to ask is NOW.

You are starting a new fundraising venture; how would you go about it?

In the course of qualifying for a potential project, I was just asked to respond in writing to four essay questions. I decided to share this result with you because it's kind of an interesting question. (You should have seen the other three!)
_________________

The possibility of starting with a blank sheet is intriguing. In my career, even when I have been brought in to create a new revenue stream, I have always inherited the history and culture of an existing organization with deeply embedded values and practices that limited what was acceptable within the environment. While I have spent a career creating change within such organizations, it is tantalizing to consider forming an organization from the ground up in its early stages.

Without hesitation, I would start with an in-depth conversation with the person or persons who initiated the new undertaking. First, I would seek absolute clarity on the endeavor’s justification, its raison d’etre. Whether it is organized as a for-profit or non-profit is beside the point. That’s the how, and right from the start, I need to understand the why. Or, said in another way, I want to know the void that would be created if the venture ceased to be. Surprisingly, not all organizations or founders are clear on this. They might be able to recite a mission statement by rote, but there’s no real understanding of the cause that is being championed or there is ambiguity about the unmet need that led to the creation of the organization.

At this early stage, it would acceptable, even desirable, if the direction of the project was not yet fleshed out. Nevertheless, I would attempt to discover the two or three driving forces behind the likely priorities of the organization, answering in broad terms the question: “How will the money be spent?”

Finally, I would query the founders on how they envision others being involved, answering the question: “What do we want others to do to support our cause?” This might range from lending expertise to being an ambassador in the community, referring us to others who might be interested, or opening doors to others who can influence the project’s outcome. Regardless, others would most certainly be invited to make their own commensurate investment in our work.

Following this exchange with the founders, I would cobble together a one-page tool for sharing the story of our purpose and our priorities, and presenting the opportunity to become involved. Later, this would evolve into a case for support and a formal funding plan or chart of gift opportunities. For starters, though, a simple plan for how much we need, over what period of time, and how we will get on our way is all that’s required to start the discussion with likely supporters. This plan might be as basic as declaring that we need ten angel investors at $x each. It might even entail approaching one benefactor to underwrite the entire project in its start-up phase. More likely, I’d draw a three-level pyramid (with one lead gift, several substantial commitments, and many moderate contributions, together totaling the start-up cost. Whichever approach I chose, I would make the total amount rational by framing it within the context of the vision. In addition, I would stamp the word “DRAFT” on the page.

Then, I would begin to find and single out a group of persons who are known to care (or are presumed to care) about the cause. In existing organizations with half-way decent fundraising records, the starting point is looking at people who are already giving to the cause or, failing that, identifying who may have benefited from past encounters and who might feel a measure of gratitude. Where no donor or beneficiary history exists, I would work to identify connections with the founder’s family, associates, friends, and acquaintances. I would seek out related or similar communities that have already organized themselves, both online and off-line, and that might share an interest in our issue. This process would not take too long, as the list serves only as a launching point for networking and conversation.

After that, I would work to personally visit with likely supporters, ideally one-on-one or, alternatively, in small groups. With each one, I would lay out the purpose and probable programs of the enterprise, and engage in a dialogue about the plan for funding. Knowing that they are being approached at the early stages of organization, I would ask for their response to the concept, and invite their involvement at a leadership level.

In a relatively brief period, a substantial amount of starting capital would be raised, and the program could commence. After some consensus has been built from early investors “buying in” to our plans, we can elaborate on the programmatic priorities and add detail to the development of additional supporters and revenue generation. We will, of course, continue to keep the early supporters engaged by updating them on what their investment has made possible and by finding opportunities for their ongoing involvement.
_________________

So, how would you have answered this question?

Community Centers Change Lives

Bet you didn't know it, but today is LGBT Center Awareness Day. Vital services are offered by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community centers. I'm proud to serve as a volunteer board member for the Center in San Francisco.

LGBT community centers are the front doors to the LGBT community, and in the United States serve over 40,000 people weekly. They become the backbone of the LGBT community, reaching across metropolitan, suburban, and rural areas. Click here to find one near you.

While progress has been made, it is still challenging to "come out" in today's society. Often, people feel isolated, and don't find welcoming entree into being who they are.

Even in progressive, uber-liberal San Francisco, newcomers to the community -- whether arriving from Kansas or the City's Sunset district -- have to make their way through a confusing maze.
The San Francisco LGBT Community Center empowers those individuals to build community. Yes, San Francisco is rich with organizations and agencies serving specific needs of the LGBT community. The Center works to enable collaboration. Rather than duplicating existing services, The Center works alongside each of them, fostering connections and insuring that people in need find them.

The Center is not only a meeting place and shared headquarters space for dozens of groups (though that's important, too). It also provides activities benefiting the entire lifespan of LGBT people, from our KidSpace program (childcare for program participants) to elder services. I'm personally proud of The Center's youth support, HIV support, computer access, and economic development/business assistance efforts.

Click on any of the links to learn more, or to support the Center, click here.

And tell someone you know that today is LGBT Center Awareness Day!

Nonprofit Dating

I've frequently drawn the parallel between romantic courtship and the process of "romancing" a prospective donor. Something draws the two parties together (their eyes meet across a crowded room?). After some time, once you know this person is "the one" for you, the object is to pop the question at the right time. Presumably not the same evening you first encounter them ("hey baby, wanna get married?!") ... the premature ask. But also not after dating and going steady for years and years and years ... the "cultivate, cultivate, cultivate, cultivate, cultivate" phenomen.

Five or six weeks ago, I came across this video which pokes some fun at how some of us choose to speak when first approaching a prospect, the language set that sounds so stilted. Today, I ran across it again, and decided I just had to share it. So, if a nonprofit were a guy and the donor a girl, it might go something like this ... click and enjoy.

By the way, this was done using a free, do-it-yourself movie creation service called xtranormal. "If you can type, you can make movies," they say. You choose the setting, the characters, and then type in dialogue. Voila -- an animated movie that you can then blog, share on Twitter or Facebook or YouTube, or whatever. I immediately registered for a free account, but I didn't start playing around with it. Knowing me, I'd have gotten sucked into the tool for hours. But it seems like a great idea for animating a message inexpensively. It will be interesting to see how it is used by community benefit organizations.

September 11: Service and Remembrance

September 11, 2001 was a day of tragedy. In response, many people rallied as one to support families who had lost loved ones and to help in recovery efforts. A powerful spirit of service and sacrifice united a nation -- ever so briefly. The echo of that impulse to help still remains, as September 11th is now officially designated a National Day Of Service and Remembrance.

My own vision of volunteerism changed as a result of what happened eight years ago. We each have a personal story about 9/11: where we were and how we felt. But it is perhaps more important to remember 9/12 and the successive days, when individuals joined in community with each other. Yes, let's remember that lesson.

Opportunities to work towards positive social change abound. A great video linking the Twin Towers tragedy to how we can personally help people is here. I invite you to watch:

09-09-09

In case you haven't noticed, today is September 9, 2009 -- the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth year.

Some numerologists feel that the date is an auspicious omen. But, for most people, it's likely to be just another day, and it will be what you make of it.

Still, today is the 252nd day of this year. Add 2+5+2, and you get "9." Ooooh! That's weird.

We're at the end of a run here, that started with 01-01-01 (that was January 1, 2001) and continued through:

• 02-02-02 February 2, 2002


• 03-03-03 March 3, 2003


• 04-04-04 April 4, 2004


• 05-05-05 May 5, 2005


• 06-06-06 June 6, 2006


• 07-07-07 July 7, 2007 and


• 08-08-08 August 8, 2008

This cycle won't repeat itself for another 100 years, and I won't be around.

So, I'm going to enjoy the day. I invite you to do the same.

Labor Day: As summer winds down ... turn your computer off

Labor Day Weekend.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the bridge between San Francisco and Oakland is closed in what's becoming a nearly-annual occurrence. A huge chunk of the bridge is being cut out and a new section is being slid in, creating a detour that will allow the completion of a more seismic-safe span. The closure is forcing the region to pause from the usual frenzy. I say, good!

What's this holiday all about, anyway? It arose from congressional reaction to Grover Cleveland's shut-down of a labor strike in the 1890s. The powers-that-be granted an annual "worker's holiday."

The picture above left shows a workers' Labor Day parade down San Francisco's Market Street in 1934. Ordinary working men and women have long struggled for an 8-hour workday, better pay, the right to unionize, health care benefits, and such.

When I was growing up, the first day of school was always the Tuesday after Labor Day. These days, back-to-school has crept earlier for a variety of reasons.

Now, Labor Day weekend is just an occasion that marks the unofficial end of summer. Labor Day has devolved into a marketing platform for mattress sales and used car clearances.

So how much progress have the workers really made?

Today, many people just count themselves lucky to have a job. Today, jobs frequently become task masters far beyond eight hours, increasingly demanding greater shares of people's attention. And the driver behind it all (in my opinion) isn't some sinister push-pull between labor and capitalists so much as the spread of 24/7 technology and raised expectations for instantaneous response. Remember the days before the curse of email?

Can we slow any of this down? No. It's impossible to roll back to "the good old days." But we CAN occassionally turn it off.

Are you doing anything fun to the celebrate Labor Day? How about declaring Monday to be an email-free day? Turn off your computer. Don't check Facebook. Don't issue any tweets on Twitter. Focus on real-time, person-to-person interaction. Spend some time with friends and family having fun. Or do whatever it is you do to recharge your batteries.

Because, more than anything else, Labor Day now represents the last chance to catch your breath before sprinting through fall, the holidays and the end of the year.

Do yourself a favor: recharge and refresh. Turn off your computer. Just for a day.

When will things start looking up? How will you know?

So there's lots of chatter about hints of recovery in many economic indicators. Maybe we've reached a turning point?

Let's look at some of the data.

• New home sales up 9.6% between June and July. (Sales of existing homes also up, 7.2%)
  
• Consumer confidence, especially expectation of where we'll be in six months, rose in August to the highest level since December 2007.
  
• Orders of durable goods rose for third time in four months in July (up 4.9%), beating consensus estimates
  
• Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke told a financial conference that the economy is on the verge of growing again.
  
• Second quarter Gross Domestic Product declined "only" one percent, much less than expected
  
• First-time filings for state unemployment benefits fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 570,000 last week, marking the first drop in initial claims in awhile

Many scoff at this optimism, and for every positive data point it's easy to produce one to show the glass is half-empty. Caution is completely understandable and warranted.

But what does this mean for philanthropy? For your organization, in particular: How will you know when it's over? What indicators are you looking for? Average gift creeping back up? Direct response rates returning to "normal"? Corporate contacts no longer ducking your calls and interested in talking to you about sponsorships? Top investors willing to visit? To stay ahead of the curve, what signs are you monitoring to know when recovery is at hand? Or will you miss those signals?

To challenge you, I ask: What will you do first when you see those early indicators? What new practices will you roll out? What new initiatives will you pursue?

And then I will pose the most challenging question: What are you waiting for?

If you have a plan in mind for when things get better, what really is preventing you from going ahead and making those intentions a reality now? If that idea or strategy or tactic will be a good idea at some future "better time," I can almost guarantee you that it's a great idea now.

If there's any way to do so, get ahead of the curve. Implement those plans now.

Cool tool to visualize grantmakers and grants

I love maps. Something about them makes life understandable, helping me to know where I am and helping me to navigate how to get where I want to go. So, when I saw this, I knew I had to check it out.

The Foundation Center has just unveiled a nifty tool that maps data on grants and grant-makers. It's called Philanthropy In/Sight.

This interactive mapping tool was developed for grantmakers, policymakers, researchers, and others interested in the impact of philanthropy around the world today. It mashes up all the Foundation Center's rich data with the familiar Google maps interface. Clicking around reveals patterns of giving, funding relationships, areas where philanthropy has made an impact, and areas where opportunities exist to fill critical needs. Zoom out to see the data mapped internationally. Zoom in to see it displayed in a country, state, or county, or city.

Two databases feed this tool, with comprehensive information on:

97,000+ U.S. foundations and grantmaking charities, that can be filtered by:

Fields of Interest
Grantmaker Type
Total Assets
Total Giving
Establishment Year

1.6 million+ grants, filterable by:

Grant Subjects
Grant Amount
Grant Year
Grantmaker Type
Grantmaker Total Assets
Grantmaker Total Giving
Grantmaker Establishment Year
Grantmaker Name

Choose your filters, and data is displayed on a map. Then you can click-and-drill down for more specific information. You can also save or print your map to share with others.

All of this data, of course, is available in other formats and always has been. Prospect researchers have relied on this information for years, sifting through and looking for that needle-in-the-haystack -- the grantmaker perfectly suited to approach for their cause or project. But, for those of us who just think more visually, this is a boon.

Many people like tons of data. But, if you're the sort of person who gets a thick computer printout and skips past the details to the last page to see the bottom line, you'll love this. Me -- I'm one who sees the forest and doesn't so much like getting lost in the minutiae of the trees (or branches or leaves!) I really appreciated it.

A free trial is available, as is a brief tour . I've played with it, and might just have to subscribe myself. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a client organization who depends on foundation revenue.

Mid-Year's Eve

So, June 30. Hmmm. The year is half gone.

Remember those resolutions you made six months ago? How has your work on those been going?

I'll bet this sums up how you are feeling these days: you've been working too hard, worrying too much, feeling overwhelmed by all of it.

As a coach, I can help you focus more. If you'd like that kind of help, let me know. We can talk about what kind of support will benefit you.

Charitable giving drops in 2008, Giving USA report shows

Every year about this time, Giving USA releases its report on charitable giving for the previous year. Results for 2008 came out today.

Giving in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression exceeded $300 billion for the second year in a row, $307.65 billion to be precise.

The 2008 number is the first decline in giving in current dollars since 1987 and the second since Giving USA began publishing annual reports in 1956. Adjusted for inflation, total giving was down 5.7 percent.

Two-thirds of public charities receiving donations saw decreases in 2008.

Charitable giving being down when the economy has been down is not news, really. Who would expect any different? The good news: Charitable giving is still more than 2 percent of the US Gross Domestic Product. Meaning: Giving is as strong historically as it’s ever been. Relatively speaking.

As always, giving from individuals (vs. corporate or foundations) was by far the largest slice of all contributions, 75 percent of the total, in 2008. Interestingly, individual's giving was only down 2.7 percent.

Conclusions:

It could have been worse. People could have chosen to pull back on giving.

They didn't (relatively).

Individuals and families remain the best source for seeking support.

Want to know more details? Go here for a Giving Institute news release.

Finding time to focus on Real Results: Review what you're doing and ...

We seldom take the time to re-evaluate what we're doing to be successful. Over time, our behavior can drift from what we should be focusing on. Here's a powerful but quite short eye-opening exercise. Ask yourself:

What can I do to ...

1. Start doing more of what I'm already doing that produces results? Well, of course, that's self-evident.


2. Stop doing something. Eliminate from your daily habit some low-impact activity (or activities). Look at things that used to serve you well, that you've ingrained in your routine, but that have outlived their usefulness. Time-suckers in this category could very well be little stuff that adds up to a lot of time. Or, maybe it's major, like routinely setting aside your own critical priorities to help someone else with their non-emergency tasks (simply motivated from wanting to be liked or be helpful).


3. Start doing something else? Think of what you're not doing, but have intended to do, filtering in those things that could be make a significant contribution to getting better results.


4. Start doing less of what is proving to be quesitonable? (If you can't stop doing it, at least do less of it.)

It helps to spend about an hour in reflection on these four points, at least twice a year (better yet, quarterly). If you can't remember when you've spent some time pondering these four quesitons, then schedule an hour within the next three days. Turn off the phone and email, and think about this.

Then, settle on at least four things you'll do differently. More of. Stop doing. Start doing. Less of.

I'd love to hear any stories from you about actually doing this!