Diane Lebson - For a Good Cause

FOR A
GOOD
CAUSE

Copyright 2021 Diane Lebson, CFRE

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, digital scanning, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please address She Writes Press.

Published 2021

Printed in the United States of America

Print ISBN 978-1-64742-303-2

E-ISBN 978-1-64742-304-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021910253

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She Writes Press

1569 Solano Ave #546

Berkeley, CA 94707

Interior design by Tabitha Lahr

She Writes Press is a division of SparkPoint Studio, LLC.

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Names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the privacy of certain individuals.

To my mother and father, Jadzia and Joseph Grzyb.
Dzikuj, e jestecie tak wspaniaymi nauczycielami.

CHAPTER 1: Charity is a big space.
Whats your place in it?

CHAPTER 10: Get oriented.
(Good for board members, too!)

CHAPTER 11: Your staff partner.
(Good for board members, too!)

CHAPTER 12: Communications.
(Good for board members, too!)

CHAPTER 15: Defining your philanthropic brand.
(Good for all types of philanthropists)

I have never been involved in activism before.

I never thought of myself as a leader.

I felt helpless and just wanted to do something.

Im so busy carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.

O n October 13, 2020, Jessica Bennett, The New York Times Editor-At-Large and author of Feminist Fight Club, hosted a virtual event with four teenage girls who transformed their angst around the challenges of 2020 into social good. Between the four of them, they:

Organized protests across the Golden Gate Bridge and in Chicago and Nashville.

Started a nonprofit organization.

Mobilized thousands of their peers on social media for social justice causes.

With such significant results and the national media attention they earned, the comments they made about their lack of experience and confidenceand their stresswere heartbreaking. With generations of women creating social change in such varied ways as forming mutual aid societies, raising funds to help people in need, and organizing their neighbors to respond to disasters, they should have felt more supported in their efforts. They should have had more resources available to them so that did not have to proceed blindly. They should have had the ability to jump on the shoulders of those of us who proceeded them so that they could have spent less time figuring stuff out and more time mobilizing.

It is out of this sense of responsibility, out of the privilege I have had to work in the philanthropic sphere for more than half my lifeas a volunteer, staff member, and board memberthat this book has come to fruition. For A Good Cause: A Practical Guide to Giving Joyfully is replete with the experiences, successes, and mistakes I have made and observed over the course of my career in the charitable space so that others seeking to do good in the world could learn from them and become... better... stronger... faster.

Working for a good cause comes in a broad range of forms. The little girl selling lemonade to raise money to help a schoolmate whose house burned down is philanthropy. But so is the foundation that makes annual multi-million-dollar grants and hosts black tie galas to honor artists. This book is about making doing good easy.

My first foray into charity was when I was a Girl Scout and first learned about fundraising by going door to door, selling Thin Mint and Trefoil cookies in my mint green uniform, sash, and beret. My mother even joined in on the effort when she volunteered to become a Cookie Leader: I dont know if she knew what she was getting into when she stepped forward, especially given the language and cultural challenges she faced as a Polish immigrant, but I give her so much credit for helping a group of young girls sell cookies so that we could earn badges and raise enough money to go camping.

In high school, I became a Keyette, a service club for girls sponsored by the local Kiwanis club. We sold hot dogs and cocoa during football games and sold spirit links during study halls to raise money for grants and scholarships we would give away throughout the year. None of these activities had labels. They were just things that I did to be with my friends and make a difference. I loved the feeling I got by contributing to others and I enjoyed the social aspect of doing good with people who cared about the same things that mattered to me.

When I was a freshman in college, I joined a sorority and ran for election to become social chair, a much-coveted position that was nearly impossible for a freshman to secure. My sorority mentor (known as a big sister in sorority parlance) tried to redirect my energy by encouraging me to run for philanthropy chair. I could barely pronounce the word philanthropywhat did I know about putting together fundraisers for charity? Furthermore, I would have rather been planning social events with the fraternities on campus than organizing visits with the elderly, mentorship opportunities with at-risk youth, and bake sales for books. I lost the election for social chair but won the mantle of philanthropist-in-chief of Phi Sigma Sigma at The George Washington University. I didnt speak to my big sister for weeksthat is, until after I successfully ran my first charity fundraiser and raised nearly $10,000 for our national foundation. Frankly, I was as surprised as anyone at the financial success of the event. I had been looking at philanthropy only from the perspective of event planning and it wasnt until that moment it dawned on me that a little bit of creativity can have a big result in terms of fundraising. That was the pivotal moment when I became addicted to volunteering and raising money for good causes.

Fast forward 25 years. I led the national womens philanthropy programs for both the American Red Cross and United Way, which collectively engage over 70,000 women and have raised over $2 billion since their inception. In addition to getting paid for what I believe are the best jobs on the planet, I have served as a board member for numerous nonprofit organizations. I speak at conferences and workshops to share best practices and lessons that I have gleaned over the course of my career. Organizations seek my counsel in fundraising, strategic planning, board recruitment, and other matters related to nonprofit management. I am humbled by this outreach and the belief that I can make a difference by my words and actions.

You might be thinking... so what? Heres someone who leveraged her sorority experience to make a career. Her working-class parents must be so proud to have spent their hard-earned money at one of the most expensive schools in America so that she could learn how to manage bake sales, fashion shows, and shopping events under the auspices of charity. Why does this matter, especially when immigrant families are being separated, workers cant pay for their health insurance or make ends meet, and theres a great political divide on the home front? Arent there more important matters with which to clutter the public consciousness?