Speech for 2016 AFP’s Southern Colorado’s
Outstanding Fundraising Executive of the Year
Friday, September 16, 2016
Thank you. I am deeply honored for this recognition and proud of this award.
Thank you for giving me 4 weeks to prepare for this speech…three
years ago I took a red-eye to Atlanta for my Mom’s retirement luncheon after
serving over 20 years at the St. Pius X Catholic High and when I arrived at her
house at 8 am and about to take a nap for a couple of hours before the
luncheon, she told me I was going to give a speech about her in front of all my
old teachers and coaches…
So since we are all over-achievers in this room today, I am
not going to use that little “TRICK” everyone seems to use when that speak in
front of large groups where
research tells us about the human brain is only capable of
processing or handling 3 points, I am going to present FIVE strategies that I
have applied for my personal & professional success, inner
peace and happiness.
So I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on what my parents did
for me…WELL THERE ARE MANY things, but one of the greatest things they did for
me is that they raised a “SCRAPy” kid.
I am “SCRAPy”….yes, you heard that right “SCRAPy”…I liked the
synonyms that I found for this word:
synonyms:
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But I actually just created this Mnemonic --“SCRAPy”
this past few weeks to describe five
strategies that have lead to my personal and professional success; inner
peace; and happiness.
OH, and some of us are VISUAL learners (I did my Masters
thesis on visual learning…), so I have these handy “FLASH CARDS” –
HERE IS SCRAPy:
S
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Sagacity/
Life-long Learning
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2009 was a
year when I gained lots of wisdom and inner strength and discovered the word
“SAGACITY”… wisdom, discernment
it’s the
year I went back to work after taking a sabbatical with my young kids and the
year we lost both my dad and my grandmother.
This past year and a half has been another year of building on my
wisdom and inner strength…I lost 8 inches of my colon and my mom and
father-in-law.
I have
learned from many great people and it is due to them that I am sincerely
grateful. This list is really REALLY
LONG b/c I believe in learning so strongly, but I have abridged it to those
who I really must remember to say thank you to TODAY:
· Debbie S – for nominating
me for today’s honor
· All the previous winners
of the Outstanding FR Exec – who I have had the honor to meet and learn from;
who have amazing successes and “shoes to fill”
· AFP and other fundraising
professionals – sharing “war stories” and tips and ideas to hone my “craft”
· My TRE “Family” – who are
my “partners in crime” and genuinely have faith in my judgement to lead them
to a new level of private fundraising success.
· Leo Arnoult – my mentor
and the one who introduced me to 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Pat
Lawler who asked me if I had “rocks for brains” when I was about 25 years old
· Kat, Ed & Mo -- my first friends, my siblings who taught me
about “anger management”
· Jack & Quinn – my amazing
kids who teach me as much as I teach them
· Chris – who teaches me so
many things, but most importantly to look at things from a different perspective
and not from my own little rose-colored glasses…
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C
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Creativity/ Flexibility
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Creating an
array of ways to engage your board, staff and other volunteers in fundraising
and “tricking them into thinking it is FUN!
;-)
Defining
your message to engage investors and supporters in your nonprofit mission can
be challenging when there are so many “competing priorities” in society…
Thinking
fast – like when you go into an initial meeting with AutoZone and think you
are “introducing” a project and they look you straight on and say “How much
do you want?” ….gotta have that gift chart READY!
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R
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Reliability/
Confidence
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“Actions
speak louder than words…and some people are full of words.”
Rather than
being a woman of great words, I am more action-oriented and like to get
things done.
You see, NOT
all of us are polished politicians, preachers or “orators” that can transfix
a room full of people and inspire them to action. My success has come from my actions
inspiring actions and the fact that others can rely on me to follow through
on my promises…
I was AFTER
ALL voted “MOST RELIABLE” my Senior Year of High School.
I am also
extremely confident that I can do whatever I set my mind to accomplish.
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A
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Authenticity/
Honesty
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This is a
hard one….many of us are honest, but we are not honest with ourselves. We try to impress others and put on masks
to “play the part”…
Last night
Leo reminded me of the story when during an audit of a nonprofit, I blew the
whistle on an organization’s Development Officer who wasn’t doing a good job
of reconciling the donations with the Finance Department….the ED wanted us to
leave it out of the report. Leo stood
by me and we walked away from the project…incidentally 10 years later that ED
came back to Leo to apologize and re-hire the firm b/c of our integrity.
TRE hired me
when I wore this crazy purple jacket in the interview….i didn’t do it on
purpose, I was actually trying to “play the part” b/c I forgot to bring an
extra blazer….but ironically enough, my confidence in myself and being my
authentic self, wearing this jacket, lead me to landing this job.
Greatest
Compliment: People didn’t know he was the CEO…My Dad smoked with everyone
else
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P
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Passion/Love
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None of this
is worth anything if it is not for the love of others. I may not agree with a person, but I love
that each person has something to teach me.
I love that
I am proud of my ability to raise funds and help strengthen this world for
others.
I love that
this is a really crazy world and its one big challenge to figure out how to
more perfectly love others in order to make this world better for ALL of
us…not just some of us.
And MOST
IMPORTANTLY: if you are not doing
something for LOVE, then why are you WASTING YOUR TIME!?!?
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That is SCRAPy….So what does Sheila Collins Ferguson being
SCRAPY have to do with being a good fundraiser??
I have had the privilege of working in the nonprofit sector for
my ENTIRE CAREER –over TWENTY YEARS; and doing a little bit each and every day
to make the world a better place.
I am not flashy about it, nor am I very good at speaking
about it, but I have been SCRAPy.
I have had ups and downs and made terrible mistakes and
enjoyed incredible successes…but I took these risks as a tenacious, determined,
passionate person who never stops learning in order to drive successful
fundraising programs that have made the world a better place for:
- · Educators and students
- · Healthcare workers and their patients
- · Librarians and readers
- · Domestic violence victims
- · Firefighters and first responders
- · Kids in crisis
- · People of faith
·
… and now for the past seven years, perhaps one of the
most challenging areas to fundraise as this only represents 2% of our
population and it is difficult to message to the community the impact of
supporting the mission to build independence for People with intellectual and
developmental disabilities and their families
I not only believe in the dignity of all people, I believe
that every single human being has something important to share with the rest of
us. Some of us cannot even speak, but they
have an important message TOO.
I have been privileged to have a career where my fundraising
can “speak” for those who have an important message for the rest of us. Important messages that make us all a better
human race.
I thank you all for this honor today as it inspires me to continue
being a SCRAPy fundraiser who works to
- solve challenges,
- strengthen our community and
- provide opportunities for people to follow their own SCRAPy path of
- Sagacity,
- Creativity,
- Reliability,
- Authenticity, and
- Passion.
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