Getting involved.

Community is something that requires effort and commitment. A community is a group of individuals that are grouped around a common trait or cause. Commonly when people think about community we think about the neighborhood that we live in. Community is often formed because of our geographical location.

I think there is another type of community that is formed from common passions, hobbies, and interests. This is community with connections, and community with a purpose.

When you think about it there are lots of communities around us. Churches, schools, organizations, book clubs, it goes on and on. All of those communities exist to build connections with people, they have a goal in mind. If you are in a book club you have the goal of reading through books and then critically analyzing and evaluating them to get the most out of what the author had to say. A school is a community, you or your children go to for the purpose of learning and building relationships with fellow peers. The teachers are committed to teaching and the students are (or should be) committed to learning.

When people are committed to their community and get involved in their community, they will be able to accomplish those goals. Take the book club example again. You want to start a book club and you end up getting 50 people to come. Before the meeting though, everyone was supposed to read the first chapter in the chosen book. Its the big day of the first meeting and you are really excited! You have the chapter read, notes all over the margins, and you even read other articles about the book. You gave your 100% into this because you are passionate about it. So, everyone shows up and you ask what they thought about the chapter, and all you get are blank stares from everyone…no one read the chapter! Now you can’t talk with anyone about it, the whole book club is pointless.

Maybe you have been in a group or organization like that, where one person is committed but the rest are not. Its rough. Everyone, or at least the majority has to be involved for the group to succeed.

Community is successful when people are involved. When you have a group, organization, church, or school that has people but no one cares or gets involved, all  you have is a gathering of people. Get involved in your community, and if there isn’t a community that is based around your passions, interests, or hobbies, then start one!

Get involved with the people around you, build relationships, start communities, help your friends out. We will realize that one day our entire city will be a community centered on building communities and relationships with others.

So you want to raise some money?

Fundraisers are something that we get asked about a lot. It is at the core of a lot of organizations within the community and a way that can help grow the community. They sure are hard to pull off though. Sometimes they go great and sometimes not so great.

I just wanted to share with you a couple of tips that we have discovered through our fundraisers to try to help you in your fundraising ventures.

1. It’s all about the people.

Your fundraising event shouldn’t be about the creative way in which you are trying to raise funds. It honestly shouldn’t even be about the cause that your organization stands for. It’s about the people that stand for that cause. Programs, organizations, and causes will not accomplish anything in themselves, the organization or cause creates momentum in the community because of the people that stand for it.

2. Use people.

People are your greatest asset. Use them to reach out to the community by going out and meeting people in the community and sharing with them about the organization. They need to be passionate for the cause. People will support organizations because of people, not because of events.

Are you catching my whole point? It’s people. People are the key to a successful fundraising event. It is important to have a creative event and a worthy cause for people to support, but those in and of themselves accomplish nothing without an incredible group of people behind them to build relationships with the people in the community.