118: A Trusted Leader Makes the Case

"...If you don’t know what harbour you sail for, no wind is favourable. Because we live by chance, chance necessarily has great power over our lives..."

In our series on uncertainty during small town capital campaigns, This week, I’m reading from Seneca’s Letter 71, first published in 65 AD.

Reflection questions:

• How trusted is the Executive Director or CEO among your donors and the community?
• Is the vision for the capital campaign being communicated clearly, consistently, and with courage amidst uncertainties?

Reflection on the quote:

Continuing with the theme of economic or societal uncertainty during a small town capital campaign, I’ve been reflecting on the role of the Executive Director or CEO.  While the trust of Board and the Campaign Chair matters, it’s the Executive Director that matters most in terms of the success of a capital campaign. 

When an Executive Director is trusted in the community, the community is more open to hearing the vision. Then the vision must be communicated clearly, consistently, and with courage.  The community has to know which harbor the nonprofit is directing the community to fund under the leadership of that Executive Director. Otherwise, trivial circumstances and chance events will blow the capital campaign off course. However, when there is trust and a clear vision from the leader, the vision becomes steeped into the community and the community embraces the vision and generosity towards that vision despite uncertainty.

This work has entered the public domain.

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Music credit: Woeisuhmebop