Six self-care activities for the busy end-of-year fundraiser
Leah E. Olm is GiveMN’s director of coaching and curriculum.
During this final quarter of the year, we're thinking about you. We know you're edging towards a destructive coffee habit, reconsidering your commitment to curtailing your stress management vices, and fielding dozens of bad ideas from folks about what your end of year campaigns should look like.
We feel you.
Here are six RaiseMN-approved self-care strategies for this brutal time of year:
Stand up from your desk and go outside.
Go get your organization's mail. Look at a tree for 5 minutes. I need you to get some sunshine while the gettin's good. This quarter is a marathon, not a sprint.
No new ideas!
If it's not already on your calendar or plan for the next three months, trust us: you have enough on your plate already. Fundraising FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real thing and if you aren't careful, you'll spend a ton of time doing a ton of small, ineffective things, instead of focusing on the things you've already committed to doing well.
Protect your rest.
When I was fundraising, I could tell I was getting exhausted because I started forgetting donors' names. This is not the time to start making those kinds of mistakes, team! Protect your rest, get the sleep you need, or you'll make silly mistakes that hurt.
"The eye has to travel."
Diana Vreeland was a fashion icon who understood that giving your eye some unusual beauty will help the rest of your work. See an inspirational movie. Read some fiction. Go see some art or a live music show. Spend an hour with Lil BUB. Give your senses a break.
Remember: Dot’s Pretzels are not lunch!
Prioritize feeding yourself. This is so, so basic and so, so easy to forget. Your body will only run as well as the fuel you put in its tank. And you can't afford to get sick right now, right? Vitamin C, now! Put some good snacks in your desk! Ask your coworkers to be your accountability buddies and make sure you're eating!
Phone a friend.
Sometimes you just need a second opinion, or an outsider's ear, or a shoulder to cry on. We've got you.
Good luck, crew! You've got this! Can't wait to hear how it goes.
Leah E. Olm is GiveMN’s director of coaching and curriculum and lead coach for RaiseMN. To schedule a fundraising coaching meeting with Leah, click here.
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