What's Your Dream?

I was 10 years old when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.  It's tempting to be able to say that it had a huge impact on me, that my life changed that day.  It didn't.  I was a socially inept, painfully shy, awkward kid with the weight problem and next to no self-esteem.  I stayed that way for a long time.

But as I got older and started coming out of myself from time to time, I read pretty much everything I could get my hands on -- newspapers, magazines, tons of books, fiction and biographies.  And at some point I read Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech, before I heard it or saw it on television.

Words mean more, I think, when you can see them.  I realize that hearing words is a valuable and profound experience, but as a lifelong reading lover, seeing words makes them tangible and permanent.

I was able to find a copy of the transcribed speech at usconstitution.net.  I've included it here.  I believe we should read it, listen to it, watch it, ingest it in the way most meaningful for each of us.

Dr. King had a dream that, had he lived to see it come fully true, he would have made a significant change to our world, made it a better place.

This is what nonprofits, and the people who choose to work with them and support them, try to accomplish every day.

What's your dream?

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

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Happy Holidays!

Today I prepared my final global email for 2011 and I took the opportunity to wish my readers Happy Holidays.

I do this every year, in one form or another. I have always been carefully non-sectarian, not wishing to offend anyone. However, as I was searching for images to include in the email, I found one showing a dreidel and some "gelt". These are representations of the Jewish Hanukkah holiday, which begins at sundown on December 20th this year, and ends on December 28th.

Initially I bypassed the image and went on looking for something with snowflakes or trees or a globe or just the words "Happy Holidays". But I ended up returning to the Hanukkah image and including it in the email, along with one that says Happy Holidays but also shows a decorated Christmas tree. I love Christmas trees!

I included the Hanukkah image because of the meaning of the dreidel and the "gelt." A dreidel is a 4-sided spinning top. Each of the 4 sides has a Hebrew letter on it, and the 4 letters represent the words "nes gadol haya sham" -- "A great miracle happened there." The miracle involved an oil lamp with enough oil to burn for one day that actually burned for 8 days and allowed the Jewish people to cleanse and rededicate the temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BCE after its desecration by the forces of Antiochus IV.

"Gelt" is a Yiddish word that means money. It's been a tradition since the 17th century to give children small sums of money (coins) during Hanukkah. Apparently this started in Poland and was approved by the rabbis because it publicized the story of the oil.

So one reason I included the Hanukkah image is that these are still uncertain times, so the reminder that miracles happen every day somewhere seems important to remember. And as all of our work is with nonprofits -- well, who could not use more money to advance their mission and achieve their goals? Perhaps my gelt can bring you some of your own in 2012!

The other reason is purely personal. CJW is my company -- I created it and it literally has my name attached to it. The more time goes by, the harder it becomes for me to separate who I am from what CJW is. I'm a Jewish woman. Judiasm is part of who I am and by extension, it's part of CJW as well.

Someone once told me that to them, a Jewish person is someone who tries to do good; tries to be the best person they can be; treats people as they would be treated; and respects others as they would be respected by others. While I know well that these attributes are not limited to the Jewish people, I do strive to live by them.

I've lived with these precepts all my life. I manage CJW based on the principles I learned growing up in a Jewish family.

This is the foundation for CJW. I have enormous respect and admiration for the nonprofit community. For over 18 years now, I've worked to show this by providing affordable, high-quality services. For as long as CJW exists, this will not change, nor will my commitment to nonprofits and their work.

For everyone reading this, let me wish you happy holidays, whether you have or will be celebrating St. Nicholas Day, the Fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Lucia Day, Hannukkah, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa or Omisoka; or you have recently observed Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr or Eid'ul-Adha.

And my very best wishes for a happy, healthy 2012!

Should Volunteers Do Data Entry?

This issue comes up a lot, particularly in Development.  So many Development offices are understaffed and overworked, and the availability of volunteers is a temptation that many organizations can't withstand.  I realize that most volunteers are dedicated, reliable and entirely trustworthy, so it's easy to understand that if they are willing to do data entry, they should be asked to do data entry.

Yet when I am asked this question, my answer is almost invariably a definitive "No."  The reason is simple.  When it comes to fundraising software, data entry is something that should be done by someone with a sense of ownership over the information, and more importantly, a thorough recognition of the needs of the development operation that the data must support.

Without a true understanding of how the data will be used, it is unlikely that it will be entered in a way that will best meet the organization's needs.

No matter how dedicated and long-serving the volunteer, in nearly all cases volunteers have limited knowledge about any given department and its functions.  Development is a highly personal, pretty intricate process involving myriad facets that combine to make people not only willing to give you money, but anxious to do so.

Whatever fundraising software you are using must be maintained in the most effective manner possible for your needs.  Data entry is a great deal more than many people think.  For example:

What information is needed to enter a gift?

Common misconception:  Donor name, date, amount, payment information
Closer to the truth:  Donor name, date, amount, payment information, designation for use of the gift, appeal to which the donor responded, type of donor who made the gift, name of letter to be sent in acknowledgment, any soft credits to be applied to other donors, will the gift be matched and if so, by whom and by what factor

What information is needed to enter a new constituent record?

Common misconception:  Name and address information
Closer to the truth:  Name and address information, gender, marital status, spouse name, phone number(s), email address(es), exceptions to the ways you can ask for money or to contact people, addressees and salutations to be used when contacting people, coding defining way(s) in which the constituent is connected to your organization, etc.

Obviously these parameters vary by organization and database, but the fact remains that data entry for fundraising use is, to say the very least, complex.  Therefore, it should be undertaken only by people who truly understand fundraising and other Development functions thoroughly.

Do you agree?  Disagree?  Let us know!  Click on "Post a Comment" below.

Webinar Transition

As we have been reporting recently, CJW Consulting is transitioning our General Webinar Series to a new environment.  We will be hosting a Tuesday afternoon webinar series, titled Tech Tuesdays, through the website Nonprofit Webinars.  All sessions provided by Nonprofit Webinars are free of charge.

The Tech Tuesday series will include sessions that are at least tangentially connected to software and technology.  The general categories the sessions will cover include:

Social Media
Online Fundraising
Human Performance Technology
Software As A Service
Documentation
Selecting Software
Maximizing Software Effectiveness
Data Enhancement


All sessions will be 60 minutes in length.  Because the sessions are frequently attended by 100+ registrants, the registrants are muted so that everyone can see and hear the full session.  Questions can be submitted by registrants throughout the session and are monitored, with an associate interjecting your questions at intervals for the presenter to answer.

While I will continue to deliver some of the sessions, I am also in the process of screening proposals from a variety of people who have expertise in these areas.  We will keep you posted via the Blog, but you can also view upcoming sessions at Nonprofit Webinars.

The Tech Tuesday series will kick off in mid-October.  In the meantime, I will be presenting a session this Wednesday as part of the Wednesday Webinar series hosted by Sam Frank of Synthesis Partnership.  The session will cover Effective Segmentation for Fundraising.  I hope you will join me!

For Raiser's Edge users:  The Raiser's Edge webinars will continue to be offered periodically throughout the year, remaining at a cost of $45 per registrant.  For people who need more detailed content, we also offer online training sessions for individual organizations in which we connect to your computer so that we can provide you with hands-on time and train you using your own data.  Please see Web Training on our website for more information.

To Sir, With Love

As I pondered the news I wanted to share with you today, the lyrics of the song "To Sir, With Love" inserted themselves in my head and refused to vacate the premises.

Those of you that worked with CJW Consulting between the end of 1999 and March of 2008 likely met, or at least knew of, Larry Muffett.  Larry left a highly successful career in Economic Development to join me at CJW, where he spent the next nine years conducting onsite Raiser's Edge training classes, assisting clients with data cleanup, report generation, and more.

That was not actually the plan when I asked him to work with me.  My plan was that Larry would take over the administration of CJW and grow the company, make us better, while I delivered services to our clients.  As it turned out, having run CJW alone for over 6 years before I met Larry, I could not make myself feel comfortable about anyone else making decisions about how CJW should be managed.  So I held on to the reins.

The other reason things stayed as they were is that Larry was so successful as a trainer that he literally increased our training bottom line by more than 50%, due to the number of happy clients who recommended CJW training to their colleagues.

Because Larry is not only a superior trainer with a truly brilliant mind, but also brought with him an MBA and his never-ending spirit of generosity and a finely honed business sense, I got very much the best of both worlds.  

It was Larry who encouraged me to implement email contact with our mailing list.  It was Larry who joined me on the road to exhibit at various AFP, ALDE and other conferences for nonprofits, which allowed us to expand our contact list.  It was Larry who willingly drove to places like Texas, Tennessee and Iowa to conduct onsite Raiser's Edge training, making us seem like a much larger company than we are.  It was Larry I consulted when I wanted to get CJW into Social Media, begin offering online training, webinars, etc.  There is not a successful decision made during the past 12 years that Larry did not have a hand in.

Larry left CJW in 2008 during an economic climate that required me to scale back.  He returned in 2010, having earned a second Master's degree in the interim, this one a Master's in Human Resource Development.  And now he is moving on once again.

Larry is joining the Hadley School for the Blind, located in Winnetka, Illinois, as an Instructional Technologist.  He will be designing various in-person and online classes for Hadley students.  I am so happy that Larry has found a position that will allow him to follow his bliss -- he love training and learning, and this position will allow him to use everything he has learned from his work experience and education.  It will also, I know, make every Hadley student he touches through his work there a better person.

Larry gave a great deal to CJW and to me through all these years.  "But how can I thank someone who has taken me from crayons to perfume?  It isn't easy but I'll try.  If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky in letters that would soar 1000 feet high, To Larry, With Love."

If you would like to send Larry your good wishes as he moves on to his next challenge, please feel free to contact him at ldmuffett@gmail.com

CJW Taking Action

Before I became an independent consultant, I worked as an account manager for a software company that sold a fundraising application.  As the account manager, I visited or communicated with all users in Illinois and Wisconsin.  As it happened, we had a number of users working with Catholic organizations, many of whom were nuns.

During the time I was there, my grandfather passed away.  He had not left much in the way of mementos or jewelry.  My aunt took his watch, another relative the cane he used at the end of his life, etc.  I asked my grandmother if I could take his pins.  My grandfather had been a loyal member of a Jewish organization, B'nai Brith, and in that capacity had been awarded a number of tie pins to recognize his service.

When I returned to work after the funeral, I was wearing the pins on my shirt.  My manager noticed, asked what they were and when I told her, she told me not to wear them to see customers.  While it was not in my nature at that time to be stubborn or argumentative (I still try to avoid those attributes) I quietly said that I would wear them to honor my grandfather, and that was the end of the discussion.

I relate this story because it was the first time that I put my feelings about something ahead of my desire to be the perfect employee or the perfect account manager.  It was the first time that I allowed something personal to show through my work.

Thanks to the internet and sites like Facebook, we all have access to information and we all hear about various causes, issues or disasters with which we are asked to get involved.  As there are so many issues raised that relate in some way to the nonprofit community, I have been increasing my participation in these issues.  Sometimes this involves signing an online petition, sometimes contributing to a cause, writing to a politician, or volunteering other resources.  I also started one petition, which is nearing its full complement of signers, to ask the Chicago White Sox to make an "It Gets Better" video.

Today I'm seeking your input.  I considering adding a widget to our blog and/or our website that would allow readers/visitors to choose to sign an online petition.  I would greatly appreciate you letting me know your thoughts about this.  Please send an email with a Subject Line of Widget Yes or Widget No.  If you would care to, please feel free to tell me why you think this is or is not a good idea.

Survey, Anyone?

The email that is going out tomorrow contains a link to a short survey.  I hope you will take a few moments to complete the 5 questions and provide any feedback.

One of my prime objectives is to get a handle on which fundraising software products are in use for the population of nonprofits to which we mail.  The more responses I collect, the better able I will be to design new services geared towards users of products apart from The Raiser's Edge.  If you are not able to complete the survey, please feel free to click the Comment link for this post and let me know which product you are using, along with your name, so I can update your information.

I am also looking for feedback on how you feel about webinars in general, but the CJW webinars in particular.  Our webinars tend to be perceived as mini-trainings, which in a sense they are.  Attendance is small (we do not allow more than 15 registrants per session and often have less than 10) and participation is encouraged.  We feel that these sessions work best when people can interact with the presenter(s) and with each other in real time, addressing questions as they come up.

Recently I conducted a webinar about Documenting Development Office Procedures for Nonprofit Webinars.  It appears that I may be asked to provide additional sessions this Fall, perhaps relating to Direct Mail Preparation/Processing and Effective Segmentation.  The Nonprofit Webinar series that is hosted by Sam Frank offers 2 FREE webinars each Wednesday afternoon.  These sessions have an average of 100-150 attendees.  Questions are typed by attendees and answered as the presenter can make time to address them.  All attendees are muted and cannot speak to the presenter or each other.

Most people who attend the CJW webinars offer positive feedback, for which we are very thankful.  Most of the CJW webinars are priced at $45, with a few priced at $50.  Each is 90 minutes long, and all have information available post-webinar, either contacting me directly with any questions (for Raiser's Edge webinars) or receiving copies of any materials presented during the webinar.

Some of our presentation slides are available for download at IdeaEncore.  If you type Cheryl Weissman in the box on the left, then click the Search button, you will see a list of all the items I've uploaded there.  You can view them online at no cost.  If you wish to download anything, there is a cost of $20, which is lowered to $10 if you become a member of CJW Consulting's group.  To become a member, click on All Groups in the Connect section of the menu on the home page.  Type "CJW Consulting" in the search box under Group Name and click the Submit button.  Click the Join box -- that's all there is to it!

Please be aware that you must complete a free registration with IdeaEncore before you can join a group or download any content.

We are continually looking for ways to disseminate information in an affordable, effective way.  I hope that you will offer us your input about the various ways in which we reach out to you -- whether it be through the blog, our Facebook page, our Twitter account, our presence on IdeaEncore, our webinars through Nonprofit Webinars, or our web site.