Last Monday morning, I had a client meeting that had hovered over me a bit the weekend before. I work as a fundraising consultant, mostly to find and apply for grants. Due to several factors (thank you, federal government chaos) it’s been a challenging year for grant professionals like me.
However, I’m working alongside my clients to stay on top, along with others in my field. Most of them understand what’s happening in the world and how it’s affected fundraising.
My meeting was scheduled for 11:15 a.m., and I would be talking to several board members from this nonprofit on Zoom. I had gotten a not-so-pleasant email from one of them wondering why they hadn’t received a grant yet. Our working arrangement began last spring. Most nonprofits understand that getting grants takes time – an average now of six months or more.
Thankfully I viewed an excellent webinar two weeks ago about how to survive in these challenging times. I shared the webinar’s tips with the organization’s executive director. I also talked to a friend of mine who is involved in a similar nonprofit to hear what’s been happening in their world. It was the same story.
As I thought ahead to last Monday’s meeting, I decided to take one of my favorite tools out of my worry toolkit to deal with my stress. It’s this simple phrase, “What’s the worst that can happen?”
If this client wasn’t happy with my best efforts and decided to end our arrangement in October, would my company and I be okay? I gathered the facts, reviewed multiple factors, and saw that, yes, we’d all be fine. In fact, I have two potential clients I’ve met with that look promising. Both organizations have missions near and dear to my heart. Chances are strong that I’ll be working with one or both this fall.
Once I accepted this potential outcome, relief washed over me. I still didn’t look forward to the meeting Monday, but I knew that no matter what, I’d survive. And I’m happy to say that, despite this board member’s intense grilling, I did just that.
As of this writing, I don’t know what this client will do, as my follow up meeting with their staff is taking place after my column deadline. But since I’ve already looked ahead if the worst happens, I’m feeling calm and at peace.
We’re in a strange, uncertain time. When are we not in this imperfect world? When we dread a situation, we have many tools at our fingertips. Prayer is one of my favorites.
Even with prayer, sometimes we may have to accept that, yes, the worst outcome may happen. Once we do this and switch to plan B (or C… or D…) things aren’t quite as scary. In fact, maybe the worst outcome is exactly what God wants us to experience so we can move on to something better. It’s hard for us to see at the time, but His plans are always greater than ours.
Amy Shankland is a writer and fundraising professional living in Noblesville with her husband John, two sons, two dogs, and a cat. You can reach her via email at amys@greenavenue.info.