Today I spent a beautiful Austin Saturday inside a windowless hotel conference room. Other than that, it was the most energizing meetings I've had in weeks. A small group of the MCEC board and staff were meeting to discuss a capital campaign and build a development plan.
The big lesson for me was if you believe your organization has the ability to make a meaningful difference you have to be bold about asking for the money to accomplish your mission. If you do not think your organization or program is worth funding, no one else will either. At MCEC we know that what we do matters, we see examples of it every day. But historically our group has been uncomfortable asking for money. We know we have to move past this to ensure someone is around to make a difference for military children for years to come.
The amazing thing is that even with this reluctance to ask for money our organization has grown from $36 to an operating budget of several million and it continues to grow at double digits every year. Imagine what we could do if we really made this a priority.
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