Be Encouraged... No Matter What's Going On...

If you are small and face overwhelming opposition, you must find a way to spend half the effort to obtain twice the result.
~Chin-Ning Chu: business author and management expert

Since the week of my last blog post (pardon the delay) I have been quite discouraged. I found out via an impromptu meeting that my efforts are not really .... cutting it. I spent some time down on myself because as hard as I am trying to raise $100,000 in my first year for Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, I am left with approximately $98,500 to account for... and I have been here six months. I sometimes often forget that millions of nonprofit organizations are all around us. I get so engulfed in the mission and what we do here at Cabrini Connections, that I forget there are hundreds of thousands of organizations similar to ours (non-profit, small in number yet making huge impacts) scattered across this great city. Several of the organizations we interact with day in and day out, we fail to realize are not for profit. The unfortunate news is we are not an organization supported by our members or dues of any kind. All the money we bring in is gifted to us.

The truth of the matter is, several organizations are in the exact same predicament as us, raising a few hundred or thousand here and there, and depending on philanthropists to drop off large checks via an inquiry letter about us or a full-on grant proposal requesting the monies. I thought it best not to put all our eggs in the same basket, spread them out some, but I will still need to up our outreach effort. I almost feel ridiculous, however, sending letters of inquiry to corporations asking them to support our mission in the time of natural disasters, unemployment, presidential campaign support, escalating foreclosures and a crashing Dow.

The fact is I have to. Our mission is important. We must keep our doors open to at-risk Chicago youth. This is the place where volunteers and their mentees connect to build LIFE-LONG relationships. I've learned that the fundraising aspect of my job is not easy... I doubt it ever has been. But there must be a way to make our presence known in the middle of so many other crises. I say other, because our youth are in a crisis as well.

In practically any newspaper, magazine or e-zine you can find and read about the impact poverty has on school-age children, their families, their lives, their schooling. We are in a crisis. And here, beginning our 16th fiscal year at Cabrini Connections where we begin with approximately 70 excited youth, what are we to tell them if we don't have the funds to continue next. How could we look them in the eye and say, "we're closed?"

The effect a tutor/mentor program could have on a youth is monumental. We connect volunteers from professions and ways of life our kids only dream about. In our time here more than 500 kids have been able to connect with 700 volunteers who cared about them... many of which STILL are connected today. And several more who graduated from high school and went on to college.

Isn't that something worth supporting?

We are committed to our mission and the mission of all tutor/mentor programs worldwide. Through the Tutor/Mentor Connection and our Program Locator database we connect those looking for a mentor program to those programs. It currently houses links and information for more than 240 programs citywide. And WE maintain that. Seek funds to keep it operable, hire staff to recruit and see it forth. No other org is committed like we are to ALL tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region. And in this day of selfish acts... isn't it nice to know there's an organization who is selfLESS? We care about the YOUTH and their ability to excel from poverty. If not us then who?

Isn't that something worth supporting?

So, as you can see I really have no time to be discouraged. Only encouraged. Because the times are getting hard for everyone out here... myself included. But the children really are the future (cliché, but true) and without their excellence... it leaves little hope for brighter days to come. Soon they will be the ones working on Wall Street, selling million dollar homes, owning their own construction and or disaster-relief businesses... we have reason to support them NOW.

We encourage you to give to our mission. Our future depends on it.