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.

As we head out of the dark toward better times

So, there's some indication that better times are ahead. The prognosticators are seeing light at the end of the tunnel; the news isn't as bleak as we've grown accustomed to.

If you've read my previous blog postings on doom-and-gloom, then you know I've never advocated pulling back. But, people being human, many have been startled by the last six months, frozen into lethargic inaction or an unfocused milling around, wandering and waiting.

If that's you, latch onto the hope-filled indicators and use them to declare an end to your organizational funk. It's over. Finished. As of this moment. Make a note of the date and time. This is when the recovery begins. Let's move on.

So what shall we do now?

Job one: Strengthen your existing donor relationships to enhance loyalty, foster strong relationships and encourage word-of-mouth referrals.

Regardless of the state of the economy, Pareto's principle dictates that 80 percent of your revenue will come from 20 percent of your donors. In fact the updated take on this rule is that the ratio is more like 90/10 or even 97/3.

Thus, it is more important than ever to know who that 20% (10%? 3%?) of top donors are, and shower them with love and attention.

Use this time to re-connect (or connect for the first time?) with your best donors. Not by direct mail. Not with an email. Not with an event invitation. Not by phone. Go see them! Conduct visits, in person, elbow-to-elbow, eye-to-eye. Work even harder, listening to and understanding their needs while presenting opportunities to be involved that address the pressing interests they have in your cause.

At the end of the day, make a concerted effort to stay upbeat, optimistic and positive. Celebrate wins (even the small ones).

It could be easy -- forgivable, actually, given the battering many of us have endured -- to be somewhat skeptical, even pessimistic, about the future. But pessimism never attracted a new donor (or renewed an existing one, for that matter). Commend yourself and your staff for successfully enduring - and thriving - through some of the most challenging times in history. And then go out and TELL YOUR STORY!

Optimism, Competence, and Call Reluctance: 5 Suggestions

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -- Winston Churchill


Optimism is the belief that things will work out for the best, that we'll generally experience good outcomes in life. I find that most people involved in community benefit work are, at their core, optimists.

I just finished doing some research on procrastination. (Been trying to get around to it for awhile now - ha ha.) Consulted an article from Psychology Today which talks about self-regulation as it relates to an optimistic outlook.

Point is: those who are generally optimistic are deterred less by implementation challenges over which there's a strong amount of personal control.

Stated another way: When the problem is "you," you can better overcome "you" if you are in an optimistic frame of mind.

During my consultation and coaching sessions -- whether one-on-one or in a group -- we always get to the planning of next steps. This generally translates to "Get out from behind my desk and make some visits with donors." And the issue of obstacles almost always arises.

Sometimes -- in anticipation that self-defeating behaviors will arise to block implementation of the plan -- I'll ask the client: "What's your typical defense that seems to defeat your pursuit of goals through procrastination?"

First responses include: my boss throws another urgent priority at me, my co-workers interrupt me, my phone rings.

If I dig deeper, and when the client is in a forthright mood, I'll hear: "I answer my email, check Facebook and Twitter, work on assignments that I enjoy more, chat with others in the office."

So, when led to reflect on it, the otherwise-well-intended staff person admits, at least to self, sometimes to the coach, "I know I said I was going to make this visit. But I just can't get started. I'm worried how it will turn out. Since this stuff is still new to me, I'm not sure I'm very good at it. And so, even though I KNOW I should, I don't complete the task."

That's the odd thing: most people know they are engaging in self-defeating behavior when they're doing it.

Five suggestions when you find yourself in that space:

1. Remind yourself that you are an optimist at heart; that you see the glass as half full, not half empty. (Research shows that optimistic mindsets help overcome implementation challenges.)

2. Break the task into piece-parts. "Make a visit" can become "call to arrange a time," "prepare for the visit," "go on the visit itself," and "follow-up on the visit." Then, rather than procrastinate on the whole, re-frame the task so that your accountability is to do just the first step.

3. Change how you state your implementation intention on your To Do list. Instead of "Call Mrs. Jones to arrange a time to visit," write "Do not check email until I've called Mrs. Jones."

4. Remember that practice is required before you'll feel more competent. In the meantime, write an affirmation about your competence at this task: "I am getting better and better at making donor visits. I already know WHAT to do, and can do WHAT IT TAKES to be successful. I love my time spent one-on-one with donors. I have every reason to believe I can effectively interact with our donor, who is, after all, a friend of our organization. I can expect this to go well."

5. Ahead of time, plan your response to the emotional anxiety that you know you'll encounter sometime during the task. "When I begin to feel overwhelmed, which I expect to feel just as I'm picking up the phone, I will simply take it one step at a time and keep my focus on the very first step of getting started."

Many of us are self-reflective and self-examining enough to be able to predict with some accuracy what avoidance techniques we'll use to postpone a task we don't feel comfortable with. Knowing this, it becomes a matter of building our own personal plan of attack in anticipation of the obstacles (rather than wait for them to arise).

Now, stop reading this blog and go do what you've been procrastinating about!