As I’ve said before, it started with ideas and enthusiasm. Somewhere along the way, bureaucracy happened. Reality decided to rear its ugly head.
And after all the dreams, hopes, and inspiration, what does everything eventually come down to?
THE REALITY
Time and money.
There’s only so much we can accomplish by writing our ideas on the backs of cocktail napkins before we have to start doing things like filing business registrations and applying for nonprofit status.
It’s especially difficult when you’ve been raised not to ask for help. You’re supposed to pull up your big-girl panties and get the job done. That philosophy has served me pretty well for most of my life.
You may be asking, “Pops, why so philosophical?”
Well, it really comes down to the fact that I started looking for ways to expand our ability to reach people and develop useful resources. That led me to grant funding.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but the entire process leaves me feeling like Oliver Twist, standing there with my empty little bowl:
“Please, sir, can I have some more?”
Then I asked people who supposedly know what they’re talking about how much money we would actually need to get everything started.
Up to this point, we’ve been scraping together loose change and funding our dreams with bottle-return money.
Well, the professionals came back with some terrifying numbers.
Apparently, websites, educational resources, insurance, equipment, technology, outreach, and professional services cost actual money. Who knew?
So How Does Everybody Else Do This?
I would genuinely love to know what other people in our community have done. Are there strategies that work better than others? How did you fund your organization, project, or big idea?
Or are we all just screwed?
Maybe asking for help doesn’t mean the dream has failed. Maybe it simply means the dream has finally grown too large to fit on the back of a cocktail napkin.
Well, thank you for listening to this brief episode of wallowing and self-pity. We now return to our regularly—or irregularly—scheduled programming.
They say money can’t buy happiness, but apparently it does buy liability insurance, network infrastructure, hard drives, website hosting, camera equipment, professional services, and several metric tons of administrative 💩.
But I digress…
Keep it spicy! 🌶️