I got into fundraising like many do. Out of necessity. Almost as an after-thought. Through the back-door.
I had gone to graduate school for my Master’s in Social Work. I had made that decision because I realized how much I wanted to work in the community, with people.
My undergraduate degree had been in English (shout-out to my fellow English Majors! I know there are many of us in this field of work), and I had actually gotten a job in publishing (the ultimate “get” for an English Major).
I loved writing for work.
I still got to work with people, of course, as most jobs do.
But I wasn’t doing anything that really mattered.
I remember sitting at my computer — where I spent the whole day, every day — and looking out at people walking along the sidewalks outside (our office was in the middle of the city). I remember thinking, “Why do they get to be out there… and why am I in here? What kind of work do they get to do that they’re out there?”
I wanted to be out there more.
I wanted work that really mattered.
As I got clearer on what truly mattered to me, I decided to go for the MSW.
I was living in Milwaukee at the time, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee had what was called a “Double Methods” degree. This meant that I could take classes and have field work in both “macro practice” (big-picture, systems, policy, administration, strategy, planning) and “micro practice” (what most people think of when they think of social workers, which is working directly with individuals).
Focusing on both forms of practice at the same time really appealed to me.
I intuitively knew that, if I only focused on “micro practice,” I’d get frustrated by the way the systems my clients were living within were affecting their lives every day — especially when those affects were intractable systemic problems. But yet, if I only focused on “macro practice,” I’d start to get out-of-touch with what was happening “on the ground,” in the lives of real people in our communities.
As it turned out, I loved it.
I loved taking classes and doing field work in both realms, and I loved how much doing so set me up to do a wide range of work.
Enter Fundraising
From both my for-credit field work and the paid work I was doing while I got my degree, I was exposed to a lot of nonprofits, as many social workers are.
And I started to realize how important the funding was. None of the important work would be possible without the funding.
So my wheels got turning.
I had an English degree.
I was a well-practiced and well-taught writer and editor. And I kept hearing about people writing proposals for these things called “grants.”
What if I learned how to do that?
Maybe that was the way I could do social work in the community. Maybe that was my best way to help.
So I found a mentor, who was about the most perfect person I could have found (thank you, kind Universe!): she was a grant-writing teacher at several area colleges and universities — and she was also a consultant working with nonprofits. So I was able to consult alongside her, learning by doing, raising real funds for important work and gaining an amazing education from her.
Soon, this solid experience with grants opened the door for my first full-time, real job in fundraising/development.
Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash
Fast-forward…
…to well over a decade later…
… and I was BURNED. OUT.
Again.
I had already seriously burned out once, almost a decade into my career as a fundraiser. And now I was burned out again.
Only this time?
I just. couldn’t. find my way back to myself.
I rested…
… and I focused on healing…
… and I rested some more…
… and I focused on healing some more…
… and I just could not get back my mojo.
I tried and I tried — for about a year — to get to a place where I felt like I could again do the work I wanted to do. But I still felt like I was limping along. And I didn’t know when I might feel better again.
And then, it happened.
I got some of the worst news imaginable.
A diagnosis:
Breast Cancer.
What happened next, and how did it all lead to For the Love of Humanity… and the story you’re reading right now?