I'm not talking about a crisis or a disaster. I'm talking about a wonderful opportunity where a quick influx of cash will make all the difference between success and failure.
What should you do?
I've experienced situations like this two different times. In both cases time was of the essence and in both cases I wrote a letter. A really good letter.
Both letters explained the need and exactly why and how good things would happen if we could move quickly. They gave the potential donors a deadline, a return envelope and an incentive to make a larger than usual gift. In both cases the incentive was that their generosity would be permanently and publicly acknowledged if they gave a gift of $500 or more. And in both cases we brought in the money that we needed by the deadline.
What were these two great opportunities?
The first was our local playground. The equipment company made us an offer we couldn't refuse. Double the equipment if we placed and paid for an order during November, their slowest month. We did it, and now our local kids have two great play structures instead of one.
For the playground we were even able to convince a major local foundation to release some funds several weeks ahead of time. They thought I was a little crazy, racing into their offices in my "mom" clothes, pushing a baby in a stroller, but they still gave me the check. (After they called around town to make sure I was legit.)
The second project is underway right now and is one of the most exciting I've ever worked on. Janet Lisle, a Newberry Award Winning author has volunteered over a year of her time to write the history of Little Compton. What an amazing opportunity! If we could raise sufficient funds by the new year we could have a beautiful, professionally published, hardcover book. If we couldn't, we could self publish. I'm delighted and relieved to say we did succeed. Our wonderful little pond community rose to the challenge once again and a beautiful book is scheduled for July.
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