I’ve decided that my word for 2019 is: ABUNDANCE.
Abundant health. Abundant love and friendship. Abundant wealth and financial security. Abundant time. Basically, I want to approach life with a mentality of abundance, rather than a “scarcity mindset.”
For example: I have set a goal of taking my daughter on a trip this year. I’ve been saving up my credit card travel points, and now I’m shopping for flights. I found a very reasonably-priced flight to a great city, a flight that I could cover with all of my travel points. But, the flight wasn’t really what I was looking for; the dates weren’t right, and it would have caused lodging and other issues. Rather than thinking: I MUST purchase this ticket, because another great ticket might not come along! (scarcity mindset) I thought to myself: Another ticket will present itself. Something that fits our schedule and budget and is a great match for our family. I was nervous about this decision when I went to bed, but when I woke up in the morning, I felt relieved. I did the right thing. I decided from an abundance mindset.
When you are making fundraising or other decisions for your nonprofit organization, do you have an abundance mindset or a scarcity mindset?
- Are you chasing grant opportunities that aren’t a great fit, or that you don’t really have time to properly prepare, because you don’t know if another opportunity will come along? Or, do you say “no” to some ill-fitting opportunities because you trust that better ones will present themselves?
- Are you desperately chasing after new donors, donors you haven’t even met yet, instead of taking care of the donors you already have (which could lead to increased gifts from them, and which research tells us, time and time again, is the more cost-efficient and effective strategy?)
- Are you buying more (but not higher quality) supplies, technology, or other resources, because you have funds in hand, rather than investing in better resources that might cost more in the short-term, but have better long-term utility?
What other examples do you have of scarcity mentality v. abundance mentality? If you have operated from an abundance mentality, has it served your organization well?
I invite you to think about your word for the year. Once you do, I bet that the word starts popping up all over the place, just as the word ABUNDANCE is showing up all over the place for me!