New Year’s resolutions that you can keep!
It can be hard making resolutions when you’re already awesome (believe me, we know!), but there are always some things we can do better – or at least things we already do well that we can commit to keeping up.
When you’re thinking about your charity, and what you want to achieve in 2020, nailing these six resolutions should all but guarantee an amazing year ahead!
1. Be an inspiration
Whether you’re a CEO, trustee, staff member or volunteer, you have so much power to inspire others. Share your successes, the journeys of your beneficiaries, and the amazing difference you and your organisation are making every day. Don’t hide your achievements in reports and Board meetings, shout them from the rooftops and inspire everyone you meet with the difference you’re making.
DSC can help you with:
- Our policy newsletter – sign up here for free
- Our forthcoming Charity Leaders’ Summit – book your place here
2. Don’t struggle unnecessarily
Yes it can get tough in our sector, and balancing the needs of our beneficiaries with the resources we’ve got to help them with is never easy – but there is SO much help available. Join a membership body, find online networks, or look for more structured support like mentoring or coaching. Accept that plenty of people have been through the same challenges you are facing, and do everything you can to learn from them!
DSC can help you with:
- Coaching and mentoring – find out more here
- Expert training from our vastly experienced trainers
3. Invest in your team
You’re not getting far without them, and the more chances you give them to grow and develop, the stronger you’ll all be. Take less experienced staff with you to meetings, have them shadow you while you do “senior” stuff, implement a proper Acting in Absence policy so that staff can get a real feel for stepping up into a more senior role – anything that gives staff more experience, and makes it easier for them to step up to new challenges when the opportunity arises.
DSC can help you with:
- Management and leadership training
- No-nonsense guides to managing and leading in the voluntary sector
4. Fight for your independence
This will mean different things for different organisations, but ultimately it’s about having the strength to defend your beneficiaries’ needs, and the power to make decisions that serve them best. If contracts and grants have conditions that make that harder, challenge them. If ill-informed narratives affect perspectives of what you do or who you serve, counter them passionately with evidence and examples of why what you’re doing is so important. And if you can’t do that yourself, do it through your membership body – or let us know, fighting for independence is pretty much our favourite thing!
DSC can help you with:
- Campaigning, and communications training – check out 2020 course dates here
- Building an evidence base – we’ve helped loads of charities carry out research and analysis to get a stronger platform to campaign from. Find out more here
5. Fundraise fearlessly
What you are doing is incredible, so don’t ever undersell the difference you are making in the world. Be loud and proud about what you’re doing and why people should want to be part of that, by giving you the resources you need to keep being awesome. Invest in your fundraising team, give them the tools and the time they need to work effectively, and reap the rewards.
DSC can help you with:
- Loads of fundraising courses, from introductory to expert level, covering pretty much everything you need to know – check out our full course list here
- Even more fundraising books – we’ve been at this a while so we’ve got everything you need, whether you’re focusing on legacies, corporates, trusts, or anything else.
- Directories of Funders – from our printed directories like Directory of Grant Making Trusts, to our Funds Online website with over 4,000 different funders on it, whatever you need funding for, we can help you find it!
6. Remember that you are awesome!
And not just you, your staff, volunteers, trustees, and the people, animals, places or causes that you are working to support. Whatever unfolds over the coming 12 months, whatever challenges and dramas arise, know that you’ve got the passion and determination to get through it. And when that on its own isn’t quite enough, and you need a bit of expert help or guidance from someone who’s been through the same challenges, or maybe you just need reminding how amazing you and what you’re trying to achieve is – let us know, because helping you is what we’re here for.
