Forget Carbondale, Colorado - this could have been Miami County, Ohio
I recently ran across this piece in the Sopris Sun located in Carbondale, Colorado. This article talked about all the great things that the nonprofit sector is doing out in this section of Colorado as the state gets ready for the “Colorado Gives Day” on December 7th, which is a week after “Giving Tuesday” that traditionally occurs on November 30th (the Tuesday after Thanksgiving).
As I read this article, I thought that you could easily replace Carbondale, Colorado and put in the name of Tipp City, or Piqua, or Troy. All three communities we live at here in Miami County (and I am sure other communities in the region as well) are extremely generous and so many beneficial services from hunger to arts and culture to healthy living are addressed by an army of non-profit agencies that work tirelessly each day to meet the needs of our community.
It’s not said often enough, but thank you to all the non-profits that contribute so much time, effort and energy to making our communities wonderful places to live with their daily contributions to our quality of life!
Local News You Can Use
Registration is STILL OPEN for the Paul G. Duke Academy for Community Leadership at Edison State Community College. For nineteen years, the program has been helping nonprofit leaders, both staff and board members, learn from other practitioners to help them serve their communities better.
This year’s program includes four sessions (January 19, February 16, March 16 and April 20) and concludes with the Mosaic of Community Leadership Conference on May 18th.
You can get more information by contacting Rick Hanes at Edison State Community College at 937.778.7806 or via email at foundation@edisonohio.edu.
What am I doing here?
A bit of a personal note today. I have had a lot of people ask me, “What does Pinnacle Strategies do?” Well, I am trying to serve those people in the non-profit and government sectors to serve their communities better. I am trying to give them tools and encouragement to allow these leaders and organizations achieve their missions and visions.
Some people think what I am doing is coaching up these leaders. Yeah, that’s true. But I don’t know if that word really sticks. Personally, I have been on a bit of a journey to find that perfect word that fits. I think I found it.
If there is one word that better describes what I do, I think “caddy” is that word.
Caddies are those guys that do more than carry just the bags for the golfer, they encourage the golfer and have tools the golfer may not have to navigate the course. They are quiet and behind the scenes. They walk together through the course and the caddy pours themselves into the golfer to give them what they need to succeed. But at the end of the day, it’s the golfer that takes the shot or makes the putt.
That word caddy almost perfectly describes what I am doing for folks in the nonprofit and government sectors. I pour myself into the success of those people that want to work with me. I have a bag of tools and tips that can help you run your agency and I love to ask questions to find out what the course ahead looks like.
If you are on the course of a nonprofit or government sector leader, you may not need a coach, but you probably could use a caddy. Someone to walk with you, someone to show you the course, someone to give you the confidence to take the shot and someone that can give you the right tool at the right time.
Let’s talk. Feel free to shoot me an email at pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com
An Excerpt from our “Tips, Tools and Tricks”
The Pinnacle Solutions, “Tips, Tools and Tricks” newsletter comes out every Tuesday and is available for a paid subscription for as little as $7/month. Here is an excerpt from our last version:
In football, one of the techniques many teams use is to “script” the first few plays of a game or a half. This is especially helpful if you have new personnel and you are looking to execute plays with a high degree of success; i.e., a quick screen pass might only pick up a handful of yards, but it’s odds of getting completed are a lot higher than a fifty-yard bomb down the field.
Scripting these plays gets the offense in a bit of a flow; it quickly works through the basic fundamentals and shows who is going to play well that day. The coaches that script these plays know how these plays will be executed and know how the game will played before opening kickoff.
Did you know you have the same power to script your own playbook using a meeting agenda? It’s true. So few people I talk to fail to understand the power of the meeting agenda. It can clearly outline what will be discussed at the meeting, what decisions will need to be made and what information will be shared. Pretty darn powerful stuff.
If you are searching for good information that will help you manage and lead a non-profit agency, please subscribe to the “Tips, Tools and Tricks” newsletter! And of course, as a huge “thank you”, all of our paid subscribers will get a special gift.
What do you want to know?
One of the things I would like to add in these weekly emails is to take some time to answer YOUR questions about the non-profit world; fundraising, leadership, tools, whatever is on your mind, let me know. I’d love to dig into it! Send me an email to: pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com!
Other Ways to Connect
Did you can also be a paid subscriber to Pinnacle Strategies content on substack? Why would you want to? Through the paid newsletter, each week you will be given a tangible tool or deliverable that YOU can use to help you understand and serve your non-profit better. The first tool is about Giving Ladders. Huh? Well, become a paid subscriber for $7/month and you can learn more!
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