Personal Connections...and Interconnections

I am currently working with a team of writers on the next issue of Gillette's donor-focused newsletter. While others are doing most of the heavy lifting on the writing, I volunteered to write a column in which we spotlight a donor and why that person has chosen to support Gillette. This has turned out to be an incredible experience, one of the reasons why I made the leap to work at a nonprofit.

I picked this particular donor because she contacted Gillette out of the blue and asked how to become a monthly sustaining donor. Once I gave her instructions on how to accomplish this, she gushed via email about Gillette and how its impacted the lives of children she knows. None of her children have ever been seen here, she was never seen here as a child herself, but she sees the work we do and wants to make sure we're around for every child.

Wow -- an unsolicited endorsement. Mind if I publish that for the rest of our donors?? Perhaps we can convince some of them to become monthly sustaining donors, too.

From there, the interconnectivity began:

• -- the donor blogged about being highlighted in a future Gillette newsletter
• -- we contacted a patient family whose story had inspired this donor's giving for permission to mention them in said story
• -- the patient family blogged about how happy they are that their story can inspire others to do good
• -- the donor who will be highlighted was contacted by the patient family and thanked for spreading her kindness
• -- a regular joe who knew the donor through third parties started his own blog inspired by the donors' blog

And thus the wave begins.

I left work yesterday with a warm feeling in my heart, amazed that the donors' words have come true -- "Making little ripples of kindness will cause a tidal wave of happy people in our community." And the article hasn't even published yet.

Can't wait to see what happens when it comes out.