The words?
It's NOT about ME!
The button was a take - away from a two day conference I attended last December.
Major gifts were the topic and we were frequently reminded that while we might be development professionals... when it comes to someone deciding whether or not to make a gift "it's not about me."
Just once, we might ask, couldn't it be about us? After all, aren't we spectacular and wonderful? Isn't the world waiting for each word to drop from our lips?
It's a simple answer. No.
Learn about the donor, what they want, what their dreams are, and where their passions lie... that teaches development professionals a lot more about a gift than any recitation of the facts and figures that make Charity A a great place to invest their philanthropic dollars.
Yet, in the moments we talk with somebody... whether it's about their day, their children, their problems... isn't it likely that in the back of our mind we think about a perfect story to tell or way to assure them we know about their experience. I want it about ME!
Some of you already do this very well - the not making it about you business. That's why people love to talk with you and share their problems. They know you are a friend they can depend on; a friend who listens without judging; and offers no advice unless asked.
We all want friends like that, don't we? It's just more difficult to be a friend like that.
If you are blessed, you have a friend who makes it about you. You are doubly blessed if that person is also the one who inspires you to make it about them.
The best news... each of us have a friend who demonstrated it wasn't about him, but about us!
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
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